SEATTLE — A Seattle pot shop said they are closed for business after a driver plowed through the storefront and took off with merchandise.
Plywood on the walls might as well serve as a “closed for business sign” for American Mary, a pot shop in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood.
“Just another several-hour audit, couple tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue – over the last two to three months while it gets repaired,” said store manager Stephen Haley.
Haley said this is the fourth time in eight months that someone has used a car to bust through a wall, grab arms full of goods and take off.
“It’s frustrating," Haley said. "There’s just no end to it it seems."
This video from September of last year shows a similar M.O. Burglars rammed an SUV into the front of Seattle’s Dockside Cannabis by the time police get there the car is left behind and the burglars are long gone.
Break-ins have become so common that lawmakers are attempting a fix. A bill proposed this session would increase the sentence for anyone who used a vehicle to break into a licensed pot shop – that bill is still in committee.
“I think anything is a step in the right direction, but I don’t think it’s enough of a deterrent it’s tough to catch the people that are doing this and I don’t think an extra year or two are really going to scare the people that are doing it,” Haley said.
For now, the best they can do is clean up and board up. They said they plan to open back up but it will take a few weeks and a few thousand dollars to get up and running again.