SPOKANE, Wash. — Jarret Walter, the manager of Halloween Express, says the day started like any other when he says he noticed two customers showing some “erratic” behavior.
“They made it up to the register, where we thought we could, you know, kind of pull back from our loss prevention techniques. But that’s when one of them, we believe to be paid, while the other one snuck out through the doors,” said Walter.
Walter says the two individuals stole over $300 worth of merchandise from his family’s store, “It’s scary to us; we scary to everyone else.”
Walter says they have had this business for close to a decade, and they’ve had shoplifting incidents in the past but not to this degree, “it’s more, you know, the kids come in to steal a wig or to steal a fake sword or something. It’s not usually in this high quantity.”
He added that because they are a small business, the loss falls directly on them, “our insurance isn’t going to cover theft like this, it would be like someone stealing a package off your front porch.”
The owners of Halloween Express weren’t the only ones who had a spooky encounter with theft. Laura Terheyden says she looks forward to decorating her front porch every year.
But this year, she noticed a few things were missing. Doorbell footage shows a woman casing the scene around 6 a.m.
A woman stole a wreath Terheyden made as well as a ceramic ghost. Terheyden says the items mean much more to her family than just the monetary value.
“It’s actually like a history of us together and like the work that we put into actually decorating our house, so it makes us just feel a little bit hesitant about what to put out, which, you know, it just not fun for us,” said Terheyden.
Halloween Express saw Terheyden’s story and joined forces to spread the Halloween Spirit and gave her a discount at their store.
Walter says they know the loss goes beyond the bottom line, “it’s just one less thing we have to make some kid’s day one less costume that a kid could wear one less decoration that family could put on their home.”
