The picture of hooded figures with crowbars running out of a small collectibles shop with arms full of Pokémon cards seems almost silly. But for shop owners all over the English-speaking world, this is not a joke. The crisis is getting worse and really costs a lot of money. Small business owners are strengthening their storefronts, sleeping poorly, and wondering when the next hit will come.
It’s scary how consistent the pattern is. A store shuts down for the night. After hours, thieves usually show up quickly and in groups. They break a window or a security grille off. They leave quickly, sometimes in less than two minutes, taking with them goods worth tens of thousands of dollars. The thieves in Abbotsford, Canada, used a car to tear the security grates off of a store and stole about $30,000 worth of Pokémon cards in less than three minutes. Brandon Chreptyk, the owner of House of Cards, was honest about what he saw: “They were specifically after Pokémon cards.”
With that much accuracy, these thefts are not like other “smash and grab” crimes. This isn’t a case of random crime. The person or people who are breaking in know exactly what they want and how much it’s worth. Pokémon cards used to be something kids traded with each other in school and thought about when they were kids. Now, they’re one of the easiest things for thieves to steal because they’re so easy to move around. Very rare cards cost a lot of money. Some have sold for a lot of money. A Pokémon card doesn’t have a serial number like a stolen TV does.
Card thieves are easy to spot, according to Sergeant Tige Pollock of the Surrey Police Service: “It’s very difficult to track that type of merchandise, certainly more difficult than something traditional like electronics.” That comment, which was said in a very low key, tells you a lot about the problem police are facing here. The cards are small, easy to hide, and simple to sell again, either privately or through online markets. People will continue to want them, so their value will not go down any time soon.
The bigger picture is important. Even though Pokémon has been around since 1996, the card market as we know it today is a result of the pandemic. Lockdowns, boredom, nostalgia, and the popularity of people like Logan Paul, who opened rare packs in front of millions of viewers, sparked a collecting craze that sent prices through the roof. In 2025, the Pokémon Company made 10 billion cards, which is more than the world’s population, but they still couldn’t meet demand. There will be crime wherever there is a lack of money and goods.
A brother and sister in England named Keith and Shane Johnson learned this the hard way. They used crowbars to break into two card shops and load stolen goods worth about $95,000 into a Ford Transit van. They might have gotten away with it if the van hadn’t broken down. In the end, police found the cards, the van keys, and the clothes that were worn during the break-in at the brothers’ house. Keith got 29 months in prison. It’s hard not to see the dark humor in the whole thing. A criminal enterprise fell apart because the getaway car wasn’t working right and the evidence was taken home.
Back in New Westminster, Canada, store owner Jesse Gihon spent a lot of money making his store safer after it was broken into in January and he lost $20,000. Bars. Videos. Always keeping an eye on things. He said, “We’re definitely pretty confident now,” but it’s easy to see how tired he was making that statement. To sell trading cards, no one should have to make a small store into a fortress.
As I watch this all happen, I get the impression that the groups that should be able to help the most—the police, the companies that make cards, and the websites where stolen cards are sold again—are still getting used to how bad things are. Nintendo’s president recently said that shortages and scalping are problems that need to be fixed, but he didn’t say how. Shop owners are currently spending their own money to improve security and are hoping that they don’t become the next big news story.
While more stores are being hit, it’s still not clear if there will be a coordinated response. It’s clear that small business owners aren’t waiting around to find out.
