Friday, December 5, 2008

The Jewelry Heist

While there are many conflicting reports about the value stolen, what's not up for debate is that Harry Winston's Paris store has been hit hard. Yesterday afternoon, thieves dressed as women, stormed the Avenue Montaigne store with approximately 10 customers and 15 employees present. This is not the first time this popular store has been burglarized. About a year ago, the store was robbed and thieves got away with at least $13 million in jewels. The only part that is still hazy is just how much the robbers got away with yesterday. WWD reports a 50-60 million dollar heist but BBC and Bloomberg News both reports that an approximate $100 million worth of jewels were stolen. In either case, the robbers where said to have knowledge of the employees names, as well as secret storage units. By the time the heist ended, the robbers had gotten away with most of the stores stock.

Harry Winston has not only been affected by this robbery but by its stock as well. Shares were down 9 cents today and 89% from last year. Hopefully the company can bounce back from this devastating blow. But I guess only time will tell.
-Kelly McIntosh

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