Three men were caught on camera stealing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from a Manhattan spa over the weekend, police said.
The masked crooks ripped off Rescue Spa on East 19th Street in the Flatiron District on Saturday afternoon around 2:40 p.m. police said.
The trio took $3,129 worth of products from the shelves before heading for the exit, according to police.
The products included perfumes, hair perfumes, hair brushes and other “convenient items,” CEO Jennifer Labs said.
One of the suspects kicked a female employee when she confronted him near the door, security video shows.
“If you’re in retail you have an occasional shoplifter,” Labs said. “It was a shoplifting incident but it was a little more aggressive than normal….You can see in the video there were three of them that came in wearing hats and masks. They basically grabbed products of convenience to them…..A couple of our employees noticed and kind of asked them to leave. It was literally 30 seconds. The whole scenario. Everyone was fine.”
Labs said her business has a “great relationship” with the local 13th Precinct, and that such incidents are “unusual in the Flatiron area.”
“Since we have video we opened up an investigation,” she said. “[Cops have] been stopping by everyday giving us updates.”
Organized robberies of luxury stores had soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, as large groups of shoplifters ransack boutiques, grab high-value merchandise and flee before police can arrive.
“The saddest part is that we love New York City,” Labs said. “It’s been recovering so well after the pandemic, and I hate to focus on something like this that would make people not know how amazing things are doing.”
“We’ve come back from COVID,” she added. “Our industry was significantly affected by COVID. We had to close for three months, rehire all of our employees.”
Meanwhile, she said her employees don’t feel afraid after the incident.
“We activated our security systems,” the CEO added. “We have panic buttons. We have video cameras, all that kind of stuff. Everyone is fine in that way. We’re not going to let a couple of bullies affect how we serve our clients.”
Additional reporting by Amanda Woods