DETROIT — A Detroit luxury clothing boutique is pleading for answers after security footage captured a masked thief breaking in overnight and stealing what the owner estimates is more than $500,000 worth of high-end inventory.
The break-in happened just after midnight Thursday at Million Dollar Streetwear, an appointment-only boutique located on the second floor of a building near Eastern Market. The store does not publicly advertise its address.
Security footage provided by co-owner Andrew Weiss shows a Chrysler minivan pulling up to the back of the building. A masked, hooded suspect then enters the store, makes three trips carrying bags of merchandise and loads them into the van before fleeing the scene.
"Pretty much put the inventory in about 3 garbage bags, they took about 3 different trips and fled the scene," Weiss said.
Weiss said his brother arrived at the store around 11 a.m. and found the door busted open and nearly all of their inventory gone. Weiss said he was on the phone with his brother when the discovery was made.
"Literally I was on a call with him, he dropped his phone. He had to tell me 7 times that we were robbed. I thought he was joking. We were both in shock at what happened. I mean, the dollar amount at what was stolen was absolutely devastating," Weiss said.
Detroit police say the 7th Precinct is now investigating and received the initial call around 11 a.m.
Weiss says the luxury items sold at the boutique are hard to find and can go for thousands of dollars each. Weiss estimates the total retail value of what was stolen exceeds $500,000.
"They absolutely cleared us out, we are devastated," Weiss said.
With 90% of their sales conducted online, the store's address was never publicly advertised. Weiss said only a few dozen clients have ever visited the location, which the business has occupied for less than a year.
"The goal was one day to build up the clientele so we could afford the security needed to open up a storefront in downtown Detroit," Weiss said.
Weiss said he first started doing retail arbitrage at age 15. Now, after 10 years in business, he says the future of the company is uncertain.
"As a business owner the business is your baby and I've had this business 10 years so my goal was to keep growing it. I'm not sure what the next steps are," Weiss said.
"Our lives have been absolutely uprooted, we are devastated. That was our inventory, we can't keep operating for now," Weiss said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detroit Police Department's 7th Precinct or call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.
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