Owner at a loss after hat trick of break-ins at longtime sports memorabilia shop

The owner of a longtime sports memorabilia store in Winnipeg is questioning whether it's worth staying in business after burglars broke into his store for the third time in six months.

The latest theft at Joe Daley's Sports & Framing store happened just after 12 a.m. Tuesday, said owner Travis Daley.

The thieves took about 10 sports jerseys, including Winnipeg Jets ones signed by Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Morgan Barron. They also got away with a Josh Allen-signed Buffalo Bills NFL jersey, and a Dallas Cowboys NFL jersey autographed by Hall-of-Famer Emmitt Smith.

"It's just frustrating when you're trying to run a business day-to-day and things like this continue to happen," Daley said. 

"It's to the point where, do we want to keep doing this? I mean we'll have to look at even further security measures that we might be able to implement. Aside from setting up a bed here and staying here all night, I don't know what else we can do."

The store was started 35 years ago by Daley and his father, former NHL and WHA goaltender Joe Daley, who won three league titles with the World Hockey Association's Winnipeg Jets. It's been at the corner of St. Mary's Road and Essex Avenue since 2013.

The first of the three recent break-ins happened in October when thieves smashed through the door glass and crawled through, Daley said.

"I don't know whether to call ourselves lucky or not, but that time they took very little. That was the start of it. Then the second one was worse."

In February, thieves drove a vehicle into the front door, twisting the metal in order to get inside. That time they stole mostly trading cards, Daley said.

Following that incident, he hired a security company to park outside the store overnight, as the store had only a temporary door in place.

But on Tuesday, the thieves got there about 30 minutes before the guards, and pried open that door. Daley assumes the thieves staked out the store and knew the security schedule.

"We'd have to assume they didn't get that lucky," he said.

Of the three break-ins, Tuesday's was the most costly in terms of the goods taken. Daley estimates the hockey jerseys to be worth about $300 each, while the football jerseys are closer to $1,200.

"I doubt it's the same people [targeting the store], but there's no doubt that they knew what they were here for," he said, adding he's still determining everything that was taken.

"When we have stuff hanging in the window, we don't necessarily memorize it. I'm going to have to review everything this morning and see if I missed something."

Winnipeg police spokesperson Const. Jason Michalyshen said the police service is aware of the crime and investigating it. He is not aware of any related break-ins at other businesses in the area overnight.

Daley didn't send out any wide notices after the previous break-ins, aside from a simple social media post, because most of the items weren't unique enough to say with certainty they were from his store.

Even now, he says it's quite possible they could end up online but "if somebody's advertising an autographed Mark Scheifele jersey, well there's lots of those around. It's not just ours."

Still, he decided to speak out on the off chance wider awareness could make a difference.

"Maybe it is time to let everybody know to watch for this stuff and don't even give them the opportunity to be able to sell it," he said.