Shop owners targeted by smash-and-grab burglars want solutions: ‘We just got to hope that our city can do better’

Inside SVRN, a luxury retail store in the West Loop, smooth black stone materials adorn the floors and ceilings, creating an immersive and serene shopping experience that feels far away from the bustle of the busy neighborhood outside.

Owner David Kim opened the store with his brother, Robert, in 2019 to help bolster the retail experience in Chicago and draw people from across the world to visit the city for its unique stores.

“I would always come back to Chicago after traveling and think that Chicago doesn’t really have something that I would want to show off,” Kim said. “So I had the opportunity to do that, and this store is my best foot forward.”

But the thoughtfully designed brick-and-mortar store is taking physical and financial hits after a burglary on Dec. 12 that was the fourth time this year thieves drove a car into the storefront to steal merchandise.

Kim is one of several small business owners in the city who have been hit by multiple smash-and-grab burglaries involving cars in a short time span, despite increased physical security such as shutters and riot glass for windows. The tactic involves a crew of thieves driving a vehicle through storefronts and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise before fleeing in cars.

Also called “crash-and-grabs,” after they occur store owners quickly pick up the pieces, reinstall security and reopen — usually within a week — to serve customers. While owners say they are committed to their bricks-and-mortar stores, the lack of arrests and the relentless burglaries have them wondering how they can keep their businesses afloat.

“We want to keep growing and be more of a staple in the community, but if this keeps happening over and over again, what are we supposed to do?” Kim said on a recent afternoon in SVRN.

Sabrian Sledge, co-owner of Flee Club, a high-end sneaker store in the Little Italy neighborhood, said his business has been a victim of smash-and-grab burglaries for years because of the exclusive pieces the store collects and resells.

In late October, Flee Club was struck again.

The abandoned car used to break in was driven with so much force that it was nearly touching the back wall of the store when Sledge came in that morning to survey the damage. He said city officials had to check the structure of the building to ensure it wasn’t at risk of collapsing.

The store sustained roughly $100,000 in property damage alone, and surveillance footage shows thieves taking bundles of designer shoes and clothes, Sledge said.

“The holidays were coming right around the corner at the time, so it was very draining and it was a defeated kind of feeling,” Sledge said.

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Police accounts of smash-and-grab burglaries involving cars are nearly identical. Here’s how they happen: A group of around four to eight people arrive on the scene in several vehicles in the early morning hours. One car, usually stolen, is driven forcefully into the storefront multiple times to gain access. Several thieves then run in and out, grabbing all they can before packing into other cars with drivers waiting to flee. The car is left crashed in the storefront as evidence of the brazen theft.

Rarely are the perpetrators arrested on scene — or at all.

Rob Karr, president and CEO of the Illinois Merchants Retail Association, said the radius of smash-and-grabs has been expanding beyond downtown. Thieves are also becoming more savvy and organized with crime, leading even businesses with strong security to face burglaries.

“It’s getting spread out, and we’ve seen a heightened awareness,” Karr said. “We also know that thieves are taking down barriers now.”

The financial toll

Sledge knows what it’s like to ditch a store because of property crime. He was forced to move Flee Club, which he opened with his best friend Darris Kelly, out of its home near the United Center after it was looted in the wake of the George Floyd verdict in 2020.

The business owners settled on relocating to Taylor Street in Little Italy at the suggestion of a friend who owned a barber shop nearby. Even after moving, Flee Club has operated under a constant threat of burglaries.

Sledge said their corporate insurance provider dropped the business last year after they racked up large insurance claims due to a series of smash-and-grabs that demolished their storefront time and again.

“Through that process, it was really hard to see the light. It was hard to see something good out of it,” Sledge said.

When news of their insurance loss spread around the neighborhood, help poured in. A local pastor and their landlord led them in the right direction to find a new insurance company. They are still covered by that policy today.

Even with insurance, small businesses can face large out-of-pocket costs. Massive losses in inventory also affect other people since the city loses the sales tax the items would provide to fund crucial public services, Karr said.

“It is a myth that there is insurance on retail theft. There is not,” Karr said, adding that business owners must weigh reporting damage against the risk of their insurance costs rising or their policy being dropped altogether.

At SVRN, Kim said he has stopped filing insurance claims for property damage, worried he is at risk of losing his coverage. Instead, he pays for the losses out of pocket. His highest costs include recommissioning the custom-made sleek benches and fixtures, a signature look for the store.

After the Dec. 12 burglary at SVRN, employees worked together to reopen the store two days later in the middle of the busy holiday shopping season. Drake Sweeney, creative director of SVRN, told the Tribune shortly after the burglary that the thieves “stole everything you could imagine.” Employees had just finished refurbishing the store after a November burglary when they were hit again.

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The temporary storefront at SVRN is a collection of rough wooden boards with a makeshift door that can only be opened from the inside. The unsteadiness of the structure mirrored Kim’s uncertain mood about the future of the store.

“I do love this city. I was born and raised here, and I want to do everything I can to be here. But at the same time, if we’re not getting the support or help from anybody, it’s only a matter of time because we only take so much,” Kim said.

“It’s frustrating and I just feel numb.”

Tracking smash-and-grab burglaries

Karr said tracking smash-and-grab burglaries is an issue across Illinois and nationally because each jurisdiction records the crimes differently. He called on law enforcement to find solutions for the repeated thefts.

“They really need the full engagement of law enforcement to take this seriously,” Karr said. “There’s no end in sight for this theft but it’s leaving the retailer completely exposed simply because prosecution doesn’t occur.”

CPD data does not track burglaries involving a car separately from general burglaries.

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In a statement to the Tribune, a spokesperson for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office did not respond to specific questions about prosecuting smash-and-grabs but said the office “recognizes community concerns around crime, and the impact it can have on one’s sense of safety as well as the economic stability of a business.”

“We will continue to hold those accountable for driving the violence in our communities when police make an arrest and charges are approved,” the statement said.

Karr added that individual businesses employing armed security guards does not always help either, because guards run the risk of getting hurt or sued.

While Sledge said he would like to see something be done to protect his store, he understands the value of safety over physical items.

“It’s kind of hard to put your life on the line for something that is material,” he said.

Smash-and-grab burglaries garnered widespread attention during the 2021 holiday shopping season when high-end chain stores beefed up security along Michigan Avenue downtown. Karr said even though robberies have not altogether stopped happening along the Magnificent Mile, he believes an increased police presence has contributed to less attempts.

Earlier this month, a group of would-be thieves left a car in the Neiman Marcus storefront along the Magnificent Mile after failing to crash into the store.

[ Group fails attempt to crash-and-grab at high-end Magnificent Mile store, ditches car: police ]

Overcoming adversity

On a recent December afternoon, employees and customers at Flee Club talked loudly, discussing products on the shelves and having friendly conversations over the hip-hop music playing. The security guards, posted at the store 24/7, have become part of the family at the store, assisting customers and rearranging inventory if need be.

Sledge said the store sees a lot of repeat customers who stop in looking for exclusive items that they trust will be authentic and don’t have to track down online themselves. Flee Club employees travel as far as New York and Los Angeles to buy rare items.

“They always have the little pieces that we want available in store and that is just convenient for us,” said Tenille, a Flee Club shopper from the West Side who declined to give her last name for safety reasons.

She walked out of the store Wednesday afternoon excited she was able to buy a Hellstar brand T-shirt. When she heard about the recent crash-and-grab at the store, she said she was upset because she shops at the locally owned space often.

“When I found out they were back open and running, I ran right here. It’s better than going downtown and having to go through that hassle,” Tenille said. “It’s for the community, in the community.”

While Flee Club has a social media presence, their business is consistently carried by bricks-and-mortar sales, Sledge said. The store caters to everyone from middle-class working people and sneaker heads to rappers and athletes. Their customer base is “like a gumbo,” he said.

Even with the challenges of running a storefront business, Sledge said he trusts the business model he has built and finds joy in making his customers’ days better when they shop.

“When they find something that they wanted and it was hard for them to get but we executed and made that happen for him, that’s a great feeling,” he said.

One of his goals of running Flee Club is to inspire people to not give up. Sledge is taking his own advice to heart these days.

“Part of what we’re trying to do is set an example and inspire people to keep going through adversity,” Sledge said. “We just got to hope that our city can do better.”

aguffey@chicagotribune.com