SEATTLE — The owners of Blue Highway Games were told to expect about one break-in per year. On July 4, they dealt with the third break-in over a two-month period.
"I woke up to notifications going off on our phone of our security system," said owner Josh Williams. "It was four in the morning and I saw that something was going on."
According to a police report, the front glass door to the business was shattered. A broken drill bit was inside the door's lock. Officers have not located a suspect.
The person who broke in stole Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering trading cards, according to Josh and Kyndra Williams. Out of the three break-ins, thieves have stolen cash once.
"It's all Pokémon and Magic trading cards, that's exclusively what they've gone for," Josh said.
The business owners said the spike in popularity and price of the trading cards has made them highly valuable.
A 2021 report from eBay shows the interest in trading cards spiked, with a 142% increase in domestic sales through the website. Between 2019 and 2020, Pokémon trading card sales increased 574% on eBay, the company reported. Notable sales on eBay include a Magic: The Gathering card selling for $511,100 and two Pokémon cards selling for $350,100 and $295,300 respectively.
"They're really easy to just crack open a box and then open the cards inside and sell them on a secondary market," Josh said. "So it's impossible to trace. You can sell single cards to any card shop in the area."