Three burglars wiped out an e-commerce showroom of designer bags, belts and other goods in Sussex County Thursday, according to the owner of the store.
Lizsonnenbags, an e-commerce designer bag and shoe retail store was looted of about $118,700 worth of designer goods, the store’s owner Liz Sonnenberg told NJ Advance media Saturday.
Sonnenberg said the robbery took place at about 1:50 a.m. Thursday morning after the burglars pried open a window to the business’s showroom.
She said she was awoken by a notification on her Ring app saying there was a person in her showroom.
“So I grabbed my phone half asleep and clicked the notification,” Sonnenberg said.
Sonnenberg’s husband immediately called police while she called her father who lived nearby as well, Sonnenberg said.
According to Sonnenberg, her father saw a car speeding down Route 15 and tried to follow the car he assumed was fleeing from the scene of the robbery. She said her father followed the car as far as Denville but stopped when the car started traveling about 100 mph down the highway.
New Jersey State Police responded to the showroom and dusted for fingerprints and shoe prints, Sonnenberg said.
When State Police learned Sonnenberg’s father was possibly in a car chase with the alleged thieves, she said two police vehicles were sent off.
The Sussex County town is patrolled by the State Police. Sonnenberg asked that the location of the showroom not be disclosed out of fear it would be a target for theft again.
Surveillance video of the incident shared by Sonnenberg shows three people wearing masks efficiently clearing the store’s shelves and shoving goods into a 55-gallon trash bin before escaping in under a minute.
The burglars made off with some of the most expensive pieces of inventory including limited edition Louis Vuiton and Chanel items and other expensive merchandise, Sonnenberg said.
“The fact that this happened the week before our biggest sales week, Black Friday is the worst part and will be a major setback,” she said “But we’ve learned from our mistakes and know not to trust anyone and to just keep our heads down and continue to work hard.”
Sonnenberg said that she didn’t have any idea of who committed the theft, but believes someone tipped the thieves off because she and her husband have tried to keep their business’s location a closely guarded secret.
“Up until this February, we were doing business out of our house because we were so paranoid about theft,” Sonnenberg said.
Growing inventory prompted them to create the showroom, Sonnenberg said, but most of her inventory was not stolen during Thursday’s robbery.
A spokesperson for the New Jersey State Police confirmed the incident on Saturday and said the investigation is ongoing.
A similar incident occurred in Montclair in April, when thieves broke a window and made off with designer bags from a luxury consignment store, all in about 40 seconds, the owner told NBC4.
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Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Matt on X
