In New York, thieves somehow was able to burglarise a Chanel store

Chanel store at 737 Madison Avenue, New York City. Photo: KT Lee

Yesterday evening (New York time), burglars broke into a Madison Avenue Chanel store that was closed on Sunday and got away with three handbags, according to local news report. The bags were estimated to cost US$10,000 (or about S$13,033) each. It is not immediately clear if the perpetrators—two men, as reported—actually got into the store. As seen in images of the aftermath shared on social media and American news sites, it appeared that one of the store windows was smashed broken. Purportedly, a sledgehammer was used to accomplish the task. It is possible that the three bags stolen were from the window display. The men reportedly fled on foot. It is not known if the window, when shattered, immediately set off any alarms.

Retail theft, including those that target luxury brands in particular, have been rampant in the US. The smash-and-grab mode of operation usually involves more than a couple of robbers. Last year, in Los Angeles’s Glendale area, “30 to 40” thieves descended on a Saint Laurent store in the Americana at Brand mall and “made off with nearly a half-million dollars [USD] worth of merchandise,” according to Forbes. It’s been described as a “flash mob” robbery. The latest break in of the Chanel Manhattan store (which also includes the fine jewellery boutique), while brazen, is thus not the most staggering. Interestingly, Bottega Veneta which is directly across the Chanel store escaped attack, so did Versace, which sits on the opposite end of the same block as Chanel.

The store is situated within walking distance from the Central Park Zoo, in what might be considered a relatively quiet part of Madison Avenue (parallel to Fifth Avenue) that is largely residential (Giorgio Armani Residences is diagonally across the street) and would be more muted on a Sunday evening. But if robbers are able to target stores that are presumably secure, what’s the chance that Chanel-carrying residents might feel safe in the neighborhood? ABC 7 ‘Eyewitness News’ quoted a somewhat resigned resident from the vicinity saying, “That’s pretty crazy and that’s scary, but honestly, it’s New York, so I’ve seen it all. It really doesn’t phase me sadly but it does kind of creep you out a little bit at least.”