Timeline shows the spree of smash-and-grab robberies — mostly in California — stripping stores and terrifying staff
- California is experiencing a spate of mass smash-and-grab thefts in the holiday period.
- 80 people robbed a Nordstrom outside San Francisco on Saturday, one of the most extreme.
A spate of mass smash-and-grab raids have crashed over retail outlets over the past 1o days, particularly in California, unnerving retailers in the holiday period.
The largest of the looting sprees involved up to 80 people swarming the stores and grabbing thousands of dollars' worth of goods, according to The Los Angeles Times.
They are "traumatic experiences" for workers, as Best Buy CEO Corie Barrys said Tuesday, and are hitting the stores' bottom lines.
Communities are reeling from the robberies, which can take just seconds.
A timeline of some of the locations hit recently:
Monday, November 15
- Iceberg Diamonds, Sun Valley Mall in Concord, California
Wednesday, November 17
- Louis Vuitton at Oak Brook Mall, suburban Chicago, Illinois
Friday, November 19
Multiple stores around the Union Square area of San Francisco, California, including:
- Louis Vuitton
- Burberry
- Bloomingdales
- Yves Saint Laurent
- Walgreens
- Wellspring pharmacy
- Multiple cannabis dispensaries
Saturday, November 20
- Nordstrom, Walnut Creek, California
Sunday, November 21
- Sam's Jewelers at Southland Mall, Hayward, California
- Lululemon, San Jose, California
Monday, November 22
- 356 Clothing, Oakland, California
Tuesday, November 23
- Macy's at Westfield Valley Fair, San Jose, California