At least 6 Houston-area collectibles stores burglarized in two weeks

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - A string of break-ins at collectibles stores across the Houston area has business owners on alert.

Store owners say thieves are targeting Pokémon cards, other Pokémon products and cash. At least six stores have been burglarized in the past two weeks across Houston, Cypress and Spring areas.

What we know:

Knight Gaming store burglarized

The latest known break-in happened Tuesday morning at Knight Gaming near North Fry Road in Cypress.

Owner Scott Evey said a suspect smashed through a window and stole about 200 individual Pokémon cards along with several boxes of Pokémon products.

What they're saying:

"We had the Pokémon cards stolen, and they were singles, about 200 singles, and we had a bunch of boxes stolen as well," Evey said.

Evey estimates the damage to the store at about $6,000. Knight Gaming has only been open for about two months, and he said an unexpected loss like this can have a major impact on a new small business.

"All the capital that we spent was out of our pocket to get this door open," Evey said. "Anything that happens outside of the daily grind is affecting our business really, really bad."

Evey said customers showed up after the break-in to support the store by purchasing products.

"I was very emotional to watch everybody come in and support us," he said.

Knight Gaming is one of several collectibles stores targeted recently.

Dig deeper:

Six collectibles stores hit in the past two weeks

Aegis Creative was also hit Tuesday morning.

Elite TCG was burglarized on Sept. 10. The owner said four suspects arrived in a vehicle with its license plate covered and used a crowbar to break through the front door around 3 a.m.

The owner said the suspects stole most of the store’s inventory, worth more than $20,000, and were in and out in less than four minutes.

Nakama Collectibles was burglarized on Sept. 16, followed by Madrat Toys on Sept. 17 and Kumarama on Sept. 21.

"Pokémon is a major moneymaker for people," Evey said. "The basic cards aren’t worth that much, but when you send them in and get them graded, it takes a $5 card and turns it into a $450 card."

Evey also believes demand surrounding 30th anniversary Pokémon products could be contributing to the recent thefts, because some products are difficult to find and can have a high resale value.

"We actually got a pretty good image of the person, found out that they’ve hit a couple other stores, so hopefully we catch them," Evey said.

At least two businesses, including Nakama Collectibles, said the suspects turned off power to the buildings before breaking in, which employees believe was an attempt to avoid being caught on surveillance video.

Nakama Collectibles business targeted

Nakama Collectibles employee Aaron Compton said the suspects used a crowbar to break the glass on the front door after cutting the power.

"They came here, and they started coming through here to get some stuff that was behind our case, some product and then the cash from the drawer as well," Compton said.

Compton said the store lost more than $1,500. Nakama Collectibles had only been open for about five months when it was burglarized.

"It hurts," Compton said. "We’re working hard. We just opened like five months ago, so it’s very unfortunate."

Several owners and employees are now warning other collectibles businesses to be on alert. Some say they are adding cameras, locks, safes and other security measures while moving high-value merchandise and cash to more secure locations overnight.

"Be very careful at night," Compton said. "Make sure you put away everything, like the high-end valuable cards and the money, and make sure you have a good security system."

The store owners believe the recent break-ins could be connected.

Houston police and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office are investigating.