Southern California's retro game scene is impressive, with dozens of stores catering to every gamer's retro needs, weekly swap events, and one of the largest video game conventions in the United States, the Socal Gaming Expo. Unfortunately, some people have taken advantage of this abundance of classic carts and other memorabilia. This morning, owners of Retro Respawn in Arieta, California, woke up to find their store broken into. The thieves went through a vacant lot next door, popped out a window, and cut through the wall to make their way in. Then they made their way off with thousands of dollars' worth of stolen merchandise, mostly Nintendo handhelds and Pokémon games, the best-selling products at most game stores.
Store owners beware. Two men broke into our store last night, Thursday May 2, 2024 at 2:57am. They went to the vacant lot next door, popped out one of the window panes, and CUT THROUGH the wall in the back to get in. Unbelievable. They took sealed purple gameboy, boxed surf gameboy, around all gameboy pockets, all gameboy colors, many gameboy Advanced Sp, and gameboy micros, all pokemon slabs and stuff in cabinets, a ton of loose switches and switch lites, too many pokemon games to count. Donkey Kong controller with sleeves, and many other personal items. If anyone has any info please let us know.
Game Tower, another video game store less than 15 minutes away from Retro Respawn, had its door broken, but the thieves were unable to make entry.
The video of the break-in was posted to Instagram. Retro Respawn also has an online store if you would like to support them.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Retro Respawn or the Los Angeles Police Department
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