SEATTLE — Sal Panelo, the owner of Seattle Fish Guys in the Central District, is determined to keep his business thriving despite a devastating, costly burglary over the weekend.
Sunday morning, one of Panelo's employees discovered someone had broken in hours before. Panelo came in to assess the damage and soon realized money wasn't the only thing the burglars stole.
"Wow! They just took my whole display of smoked salmon. It's one of our prized items," Panelo said. "Two tubs of salmon jerky and salmon collars. It was right here out front. They walked out with 180 lbs. of stuff."
Panelo said it's going to take at least a week for them to restock.
"We have to reorder the fish. We have to cut the fish and send it out to the smokehouse. It takes about five days to get back to us," Panelo said.
Replenishing the stolen seafood is going to cost time and money. That's on top of everything the burglars stole. His losses are in the thousands.
"We're probably looking at maybe close to $12,000. For a small business, that's a lot. It hurts," he said.
Even though Panelo is keeping the mood light at his business, he's still trying to process what happened and how to move forward.
"It was a shock. I understand what a lot of businesses are going through and I wish we could get some kind of control of the situation," he said.
Panelo has taken the necessary steps to ensure his business won't be targeted again.
As far as the stolen seafood, Panelo doesn't think he will get it back. He believes whoever stole it will try to sell it or throw a huge party. The burglars stole enough fish to feed around 200 people.