LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Another sporting goods store in the Las Vegas Valley has been hit by thieves.
The owners of Henderson store “Play it Again” tell FOX5 they believe it is the same people who targeted a pickleball store off Fort Apache and Tropicana that we reported on.
The owner Lynne Pisan reached out to FOX5, after watching our report on the pickleball store, as she realized they may be the same ones who were at her store a few days ago.
Pisan and her husband opened their new and used sporting goods store a few months ago.
“We have enough challenges, and then looking out for thieves is not really in the job description we thought it would be,” Pisan said.
However, now it is part of their job as they were recently targeted by two thieves.
“It caught us completely off guard,” Pisan said.
After watching FOX5′s report Wednesday about the thieves going into a pickleball store and getting away with many items without being caught, Pisan thinks the women were also captured on a surveillance camera at her store.
“When we realized it was the same women, we were disheartened. We really want to be a store for the community,” Pisan said.
In both instances, surveillance video showed two women with their heads covered and wearing long skirts walking in with a baby.
“They looked very specifically at the pickleball section but I think they were deterred by the price tags of the new bats so they went for that,” Pisan said.
Video showed the women stuffing baseball bats into their skirts.
According to Pisan, the women got away with 15 bats within 7 minutes of being inside the store, which resulted in $5,000 of inventory lost.
“They only went after the high price items and it was very deliberate,” Pisan said.
Now she has to lock up her high-valued items, which may result in a decrease in sales.
Pisan said she hopes another small business will watch this story and beware if the thieves walk into their store. Given that they are a new and used store, Pisan added that they always carefully check items that customers want to re-sell.
They have turned away items if something seemed suspicious and hope other store owners are also careful.
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