SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) – A business in San Jose’s Japantown is out thousands of dollars after their U-Haul truck was stolen. The owners want your help in finding their one-of-a-kind merchandise.
The owner says she had been packing her U-Haul all week with cute anime-inspired products when she woke up the next morning and the truck was gone.
Elda, the owner of San Jose’s anime shop Thousand Skies, took a video Wednesday, praying nothing happens to her packed U-Haul. But surveillance video from just hours later shows thieves breaking in and driving off with the U-Haul.
“I mean, I was… I just feel like crying,” she said. “Like I was ready to cry.”
She says thieves stole her merchandise just before her biggest event of the year: the San Jose Fanimecon convention.
“Like ten thousands of dollars. Like, to be honest with you, it was like it’s our biggest show and we sell a lot of plushies. We have like 400 skus-like item variations,” she explained.
She still went to the convention. Instead of designing anime-inspired products, she drew a new exhibit backdrop displaying her stolen U-Haul.
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Police found the U-Haul emptied out and abandoned two miles away. But the niche anime-inspired products featured in her shop were all gone.
Elda told KRON4 she’s been looking on Facebook marketplace and they will be going to flea markets to see if they see any red panda stuffed animals. So if you see one, you may know where it came from.