NORFOLK, Va. — Exclusive Clothing and More sits tucked between businesses on East Virginia Beach Boulevard in Norfolk. It held high-quality sneakers like Nikes and Jordan brands, along with clothing and other items.
On Christmas morning, two men targeted the store for its valuable merchandise, Norfolk detectives said.
"We spend thousands of dollars on our merchandise," COO and Co-Founder Lashanta Donaldson said.
The Norfolk Police Department released security camera footage, showing the two men running into the store and searching around.
One of the men, in dark clothing, found the storage unit in the back and gestured to the other man in a red hoodie to follow him. The storage unit is where Donaldson said she held a majority of her items.
"It's heartbreaking to walk into a building that you put your pride and joy into," Donaldson said. "And when you stick your key into the lock, you notice it's a hole and the lock is outside and the door is pushed open. That's heartbreaking to step into your building and it's completely vandalized."
Pieces of the store and only a couple of sneakers are sitting in what is left of the store's name.
Donaldson said she spent years working to open her Norfolk urban-design clothing store, saying, "a clothing store with sneakers has always been a dream of ours."
Her dream turned into a nightmare with the items stolen valued at about $30,000.
"$30,000. That's a tremendous loss for a small, Black-owned business," Donaldson said. "All of our hard work, it just went down the drain."
Not only did they steal a large number of sneakers and clothes, but Donaldson said they also ripped out the security footage tapes to try to get rid of video evidence of their presence. She was still able to recover other videos.
Donaldson said she only opened her business a few months ago while she also works a full-time job to keep supporting her family.
She said it could take up to six months to recover from this major financial loss and hopes anyone who knows anything about the incident will come forward with the information, even anonymously.
Norfolk police said if you have any information about this incident, or recognize the man involved please call the Norfolk Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP or submit a tip using the P3Tips mobile app.