PORTLAND, Ore. — A heart-breaking burglary, both in terms of the money and history that was lost. A Vancouver business owner is out thousands of dollars after a thief stole rare jewelry, some that date back to over a hundred years.
Most Everything Vintage has been located along Washington Street in Vancouver for more than a decade. Last week, a person broke in using a crowbar and got away with around $4,000 worth of jewelry. The owner, Alisa Tetreault said she’s thankful for the community that has come out to support her.
“The hardest thing is that most likely that person had been in the store, and you just don’t know who they are,” said Tetreault.
Most of the items stolen, Tetreault said was the vintage jewelry, some of which was from the 1920s. She doesn’t have any security cameras, but she expects whoever was behind the break-in knew what they were looking for.
“I looked inside my jewelry case and noticed they had swiped two rows of jewelry, the upper row was artisan jewelry, which was silver and bronze, which I’m guess they thought was gold,” said Tetreault.
The person also broke a door into her office, she said. Tetreault added that before this, she had never had any issues in the 14 years she'd been at her downtown Vancouver store. Though, according to a spokesperson with the Vancouver Police Department, burglary is down 24% in the city so far this year.
Tetreault said what has her so amazed is the generosity she’s been receiving from her friends, customers and the city of Vancouver.
“Vancouver Downtown Association stepped in and they were able to get me a grant for $250 to pay for security cameras,” she said.
Some of Tetreault customers have also made donations to the store, including a couple boxes of jewelry and around 50 garments.