Editor’s note: The original November 2021 version of this article was lost. The Lee Daily Register rebuilt it in October 2026 from the reporting cited below, and added what happened afterward.
Over eight days in late November, groups of thieves struck high-end stores across California, smashing windows, grabbing merchandise and escaping in waiting cars. The raids began in San Francisco and moved south to Los Angeles during Thanksgiving week.
The Bay Area weekend
On Friday night, Nov. 19, a large group broke into luxury stores around San Francisco’s Union Square. Nearly a dozen businesses were hit, including Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Bloomingdale’s and Yves Saint Laurent. Police Chief Bill Scott said the attack was coordinated, and Mayor London Breed said the city would limit when cars can enter the area, CBS News Bay Area reported. Eight people had been arrested by the next day.
About 24 hours later, roughly 80 people, some in ski masks and carrying crowbars, ransacked the Nordstrom at the Broadway Plaza outdoor mall in Walnut Creek, about 20 miles northeast of San Francisco. Employees began calling 911 around 9 p.m. Two workers were assaulted and one was pepper-sprayed. Police called it a planned event and arrested three people, recovering a gun from one, while most of the group fled in cars, The Associated Press reported.
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin has since filed felony charges against nine people over the Friday night thefts, and prosecutors from seven Bay Area counties have announced a joint effort against organized retail theft.
Los Angeles over Thanksgiving week
On Sunday, Nov. 21, storefront windows at Louis Vuitton and Saks Fifth Avenue on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills were smashed, though nothing was taken. The next night, about 20 people used a sledgehammer and an electric bike to break into the Nordstrom at The Grove, taking about $5,000 in merchandise and causing roughly $15,000 in damage. A police chase ended with three arrests, including a juvenile, the AP reported. LAPD Chief Michel Moore promised more visible patrols around high-end stores through the holiday weekend.
On Wednesday evening, five people walked into the Nordstrom at Westfield Topanga in Canoga Park, took seven or eight expensive purses and drove off. A security guard was hit with bear spray and taken to a hospital. That same day, four young men took about $20,000 in goods from an Apple Store in Santa Rosa, CBS News reported. Gov. Gavin Newsom said, “I have no sympathy or empathy for people smashing and grabbing.”
Late Friday, Nov. 26, Los Angeles police placed the city on citywide tactical alert, and sheriff’s detectives began investigating a possible smash-and-grab at a Home Depot in Lakewood, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Who is behind the raids
Ben Dugan of the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail told the AP that local organizers recruit mostly young people, pay them roughly $500 to $1,000 a job and resell the stolen goods online. A security consultant cautioned that some incidents may be copycats. In July, Newsom signed a law that lets prosecutors charge people who work together to steal merchandise.
What happened next
On Dec. 17, 2021, Newsom proposed $255 million over three years for local police to deter retail theft, plus $30 million for district attorneys and $18 million for a new organized theft unit under the attorney general, the AP reported.
The Topanga Nordstrom was raided again on Aug. 12, 2023, by a group of 30 to 50 people. Days later, an LAPD organized retail crime task force announced 11 arrests tied to four of the nine cases it was investigating, Fox News reported.
