{"id":109450,"date":"2026-01-23T06:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T06:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/109450\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T06:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T06:06:07","slug":"nyc-pokemon-shop-worker-describes-outpouring-of-love-community-after-brazen-trio-robbed-100k-in-rare-trading-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/109450\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Pok\u00e9mon shop worker describes outpouring of love, community, after brazen trio robbed $100K in rare trading cards"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Manhattan Pok\u00e9mon shop employee said the store has been overwhelmed with love \u2014 even from the actor behind Ash Ketchum \u2014 after it was robbed of over $100,000 in rare trading cards by a trio of masked robbers <\/a>at gunpoint last week.<\/p>\n

Peter Du was among the group of 40 people in Pok\u00e9 Court around 6:45 p.m. last Wednesday for a community arts-and-crafts night when the robbers busted in, used hammers to smash glass displays, and stole the valuable cards, the employee chronicled in a HuffPost essay.<\/a><\/p>\n

A worker at a Manhattan Pok\u00e9mon shop said the store has been overwhelmed with love and community after it was robbed of over $100,000 in rare trading cards by a trio of masked robbers The Poke Court \/ Instagram<\/p>\n

Since the brazen robbery \u2014 which saw many dedicated Pok\u00e9mon fans held at gunpoint in their safe \u201coasis\u201d \u2014 a slew of local businesses and artists have reached out to help repair the shop\u2019s displays and offer piles of tasty treats, Du wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the minutes after the robbers fled, the silence was replaced by the scratching sound of brooms. Customers grabbed dustpans and began picking up the jagged remnants of the display cases,\u201d Du said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBy the next morning, our break room was piled so high with boba, donuts, and lobster rolls sent by thoughtful strangers and friends of the store that we had to give them away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarpenters and glassmakers offered to fix the cases for free. Artists reached out to replace our stolen displays with new paintings and woodwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the brazen robbery, a slew of local businesses and artists have reached out to help repair the shop\u2019s displays and offer piles of tasty treats. Facebook\/Poke Court<\/p>\n

Sarah Natochenny, who voices Ash Ketchum from the Pok\u00e9mon anime, also turned up with free pizza for everyone in the store, still reeling from the violent altercation.<\/p>\n

Du said he works at the trading card shop on top of another job because the Pok\u00e9mon community showed up for him when his father \u2014 who \u201cskipped meals\u201d to buy him Charizard cards \u2014 died in 2016, and he needed help raising money for funeral expenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing men with guns threaten that oasis last Wednesday filled me with a cold kind of anger. But just like in 2016, the community\u2019s response was louder than the shattering glass,\u201d Du wrote. <\/p>\n

The trio made off with more than $116,000 in Pok\u00e9mon cards, $1,000 cash, and a cell phone belonging to a 27-year-old woman. The Poke Court \/ Instagram<\/p>\n

The armed trio made off with more than $116,000 in Pok\u00e9mon cards, $1,000 cash, and a cell phone belonging to a 27-year-old woman, cops said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of the rare, stolen cars depicted the characters Treecko, Charizard, Pikachu, and Ho-Oh, according to images posted to the store\u2019s Instagram story.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The suspects still remain at large. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe robbery took three minutes. The community rally has been going on for days \u2026 Even if the robbers came back and took every single card in the store, it wouldn\u2019t stop us from sharing our passion,\u201d Du maintained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll keep sweeping the glass. We\u2019ll keep coming back,\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Manhattan Pok\u00e9mon shop employee said the store has been overwhelmed with love \u2014 even from the actor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1882,19085,75,57,9,56,63,65,64,46530,2955,58],"class_list":["post-109450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-community","tag-investigations","tag-manhattan","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-pokemon","tag-robberies","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}