Ballard’s recently opened outdoor gear consignment store, Wonderland Gear Exchange, took a big hit over the weekend, when burglars knocked down a window and made off with several pieces of inventory.
Wonderland co-owner Ben Mawhinney says it happened sometime late Friday night or early Saturday morning. The burglars broke a large glass window to get in, and knocked over their tent rack in the process. Mawhinney says they’re still assessing the damage and what was stolen — they spent all of Saturday going through their inventory item-by-item. He says most of the stolen gear was soft goods like jackets and gloves.
One of the items the burglars stole was a conspicuous giant yellow expedition parka made by Feathered Friends. “It would be impossible for someone not to stick out wearing it,” Mawhinney says.
“All in all, we are so lucky that the neighborhood has embraced our shop this quickly. These types of incidents certainly sting, but we’ve already felt a lot of support from the community since sharing the news of the break-in, and we recognize just how fortunate we are as a new business to have built some solid momentum in just a few months since our Grand Opening.”
Mawhinney says their security system failed to capture the burglary, which has since been remedied. If you have any information about the incident, contact Seattle Police, 206-625-5011.