Capital City Sports Cards was one of two Lincoln businesses burglarized Wednesday

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A local sports card store was burglarized early Wednesday morning.

The front door was smashed in, leaving shattered glass and debris everywhere, along with more glass cases destroyed inside.

According to the shop, the damage and the amount of merchandise totaled between $10,000 and $20,000.

“They cleared out a bunch of our Pokémon graded cards and some Husker memorabilia,” said Chris Dietrich, the owner of Capital City Sports Cards.

According to the Lincoln Police Department, the theft occurred at 2:45 a.m.

Dietrich says that despite the robbery, they opened their doors only 1 hour later than usual and received an outpouring of support from the small-business community.

Customers fled into the shop and donated items to help.

“I’m up to 30,40 missed calls and Facebook messages, and everybody just stopping by to see,” Dietrich said. “It’s been cool to see the outreach from the community.”

Dietrich also says that since he opened this business back in 2018, this isn’t the first theft. In fact, it happened once at another location.

He feels it’s due to the growth of the sports card industry, which leaves places like his with a target on their back.

“It’s a good time to be in this industry, but it also puts an X on our back for stuff like this.”

According to CNN, Pokémon cards are igniting a national crime spree.

That’s also a bulk of what was taken, according to Dietrich.

But for Dietrich and his shop, despite the losses, there’s only one thing left to do.

“We can’t do anything but move forward. We’ve had amazing customers here, and people have donated things for us to sell,” said Dietrich.

“Just got to put our head down and keep grinding. It’s just a rougher day than some days.”

Another robbery was committed at the Romantix Adult store, near 10th and High Streets, early Wednesday morning.

SEE ALSO: Police investigate burglary at south Lincoln adult entertainment store

It happened just before the theft occurred at Capital City Sports Cards.

LPD believes the two crimes are connected. So far, no arrests have been made. This is an ongoing investigation.