Several Lululemon stores in the San Francisco Bay area have been robbed in the last two weeks, and police suspect a gang of female thieves has stolen yoga pants worth tens of thousands of dollars.
“They walk into the store, a group of two or three come in with bags and they start filling those bags with items,” Officer Byron White of the Berkeley Police Department told CNN affiliate KGO.
Thieves at a Berkeley Lululemon store cleared shelves of merchandise in a matter of seconds on July 18. Surveillance video from that day showed three suspects entering the store, walking directly to the clothes and swiftly filling their bags with the high-end athletic wear.
“They are in and out. It happens in about a minute. They get into a waiting vehicle,” White told CNN.
The lone store in Berkeley was also hit by thieves on July 2, 9 and 11, with two or three people entering between 1 and 4 p.m. No one was hurt in any of the incidents.
White said it appears the thefts in Berkeley are related. The thieves took off with “at least $1,000 worth of goods,” he said.
CNN has calls out to other police departments, including Fresno, on thieves hitting up Lululemon stores.
Surveillance video released Tuesday showed three women filling large tote bags with yoga pants at a store in Fresno. Police say the women took 148 pairs of pants worth at least $10,000 and walked away, CNN affiliate KSFN reported.
Christine Brown, a yoga instructor who was at the store, was shocked as she saw the women quietly taking the leggings and leaving the store.
“I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if there was anything I could do,” said Brown, who had earlier taught a class inside the store.
Employees are not allowed to confront or chase thieves due to a company policy, CNN affiliates reported.
The women have also targeted stores in Stanford, Walnut Creek, San Mateo, Stanford and San Jose.