SEATTLE — Inside Ballyhoo Curiosity Shop in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, people can find some interesting things for sale.
“A museum where you can buy the exhibits,” owner Ryan Robbins said.
He says the unusual and interesting items they have on display is really what has kept people coming back for the 10 years they’ve been in business.
“I want people to grow up remembering like I grew up going to places and thinking that god this is a magical place,” Robbins said.
Sadly, his store was broken into late Saturday night into early Sunday morning. Seattle Police say two people broke in, smashed several cases and stole up to $20,000 in merchandise while causing thousands in damage.
Some of the items stolen were jewelry and fossils like a woolly mammoth tooth and megalodon shark teeth.
“The most valuable thing was like a $1,500 woolly mammoth tooth,” Robbins said.
He says the timing was pretty bad, too. The store plans to move down the street to a new location within the next few weeks.
“It’s never happened to us before and we are right in the middle of probably our biggest thing we have gone through business in 10 years is moving,” Robbins said.
Robbins says it’s been a tough week for some Ballard businesses, including the ones impacted by the dumpster fire last week that did thousands in damage and destroyed a bunch of art by local artists. Robbins says he has beefed up security for the time being, but he says the support from the community has helped them keep going.
“I mean, you gotta keep going like we gotta keep the revenue stream going. You gotta keep working,” Robbins said.
Seattle Police are still looking for the suspects. Anyone with any information is urged to reach out immediately. A GoFundMe has been set up to help the store.
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