Looking Glass Photo exceeds GoFundMe goal following break-in
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Bay Area photo store Looking Glass Photo and Camera has exceeded its $50,000 fundraising goal by more than $20,000, following a disastrous break-in. On Sunday, Feb. 16, four suspects rammed a car into the storefront and then stole countless cameras and supplies, according to Jen Waicukauski, the president and CEO of Looking Glass Photo, according to a report by the local CBS News affiliate. The break-in happened despite measures taken to prevent this, including the installation of bollards on the sidewalk and a roll-down security gate. The store is located at 2239 Fifth St. in Berkeley, Calif.
According to a report in SFGate, Looking Glass is new to the location, the shop, which has been in business since 1971, had only moved to its current address in July, 2024, from a larger location on Ashby Street where it had been for a decade.
The company launched the GoFundMe campaign to:
Restoring our storefront and entrance
Replacing broken fixtures, displays, and equipment
Installing a roll-up security door for added protection
Upgrading security measures to prevent future incidents
Covering operational costs to keep our team employed as we recover
Last year, thieves broke into Mike’s Camera in Pleasant Hill twice, including one burglary in which a car plowed through the storefront, KRON-TV reported. In 2022, Mike’s Dublin location was targeted by five men who held employees at gunpoint.
The same year in San Francisco, thieves took $178,000 worth of equipment from the Leica Store in Union Square, and at least one of them was armed, ABC7 (KGO-TV) reported. In 2023, thieves shot and injured an employee as they took thousands of dollars of equipment from San Jose Camera and Video in Campbell.