A small store in California was robbed earlier this month, and the thieves focused primarily on taking thousands of dollars’ worth of Labubu dolls. The owner says this happened only two months after opening her shop.
As reported by ABC7, Joanna Avendano’s One Stop Sales, located in La Puente, California, was burglarized on August 6 at around 2:00 a.m. local time. The owner explained that she was hit with a “gut feeling” to check her phone and noticed there was motion and sound coming from the store’s surveillance camera. Nobody was supposed to be there at the time. It was clear at that point that the place was being robbed. Four masked suspects entered the store after smashing in a window and proceeded to grab over $30,000 worth of inventory.
“There was a lot taken, maybe like around $30,000 or more of inventory,” Avendano told the outlet.”We worked so hard to get to this point, and for them to just come in and, like nothing, take it all away, it’s really bad.”
ABC7 reports that the suspects didn’t steal cash or high-end electronics in the store and instead focused on grabbing Labubu dolls and other collectible merchandise. Labubu dolls have become quite popular over the last year or so, thanks to TikTok and celebrities posting about the bizarre monster plushies with big eyes that come in various colors and designs.
“I was watching everything, from when they got in, what they were taking,” said Avendano. “I was panicking because I was just…I couldn’t do anything.”
Avendano told ABC7 that she believes the robbery was planned, explaining that a suspicious truck was parked near her store as she closed up before the robbery. She also thinks the thieves were watching the shop’s social media posts and were waiting for her to share news of a Labubu restock. The dolls are currently very hard to find as their popularity continues to grow, mostly pushed by the algorithm.
In fact, it’s entirely possible you’ve never heard of these hard-to-find dolls, and if so, you aren’t alone. As reported by Bloomberg, many younger people are posting on TikTok about how many odd trends have gone viral recently, including Labubu, and how confusing it’s all becoming. It almost feels like these trends aren’t coming about organically, but instead are a symptom of pop culture becoming dominated by dopamine hits and corporate-controlled algorithms. Monoculture is dead and its replacement sucks.
On August 8, Avendano shared a post on Instagram claiming that police had recovered some of her stolen goods, including some Labubu dolls. However, she and local law enforcement are still asking residents in the area to report anything they might know to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department City.
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The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department City of Industry substation is investigating the burglary.
