Bob Ficarra is the owner of Santa Barbara's Metro Entertainment store, which recently was the target of a burglary in which $10,000 in rare Pokémon cards were stolen and the front door was damaged.
Bob Ficarra is the owner of Santa Barbara's Metro Entertainment store, which recently was the target of a burglary in which $10,000 in rare Pokémon cards were stolen and the front door was damaged. Credit: Daniel Green / Noozhawk photo

Metro Entertainment, a comic book and game shop in Santa Barbara, has started a GoFundMe fundraising campaign to help pay for part of the damages and losses caused by the nighttime burglary that caused a loss of $10,000 in rare Pokémon cards.

The GoFundMe came about as a way for local residents to donate and provide help as Metro tries to recoup its losses. In the days after the theft, residents began donating food and making extra purchases.

Shop owner Bob Ficarra said supporters of the store had asked for a way to donate directly, adding that former customers who lived too far away to visit suggested a GoFundMe campaign.

The fundraiser had raised $1,247 of its $4,500 goal as of Monday evening.

The proceeds will help the shop pay for repairs to the front door and for its lost merchandise.

Ficarra said there are leads on who stole the cards.  

“We do have hopes that the people that broke in will be caught, but we have little hope that any of the things stolen will be recovered,” he said.

Pokémon is one of the most popular franchises among collectors, and trading cards can go for thousands of dollars. In 2022, a single rare Pikachu card was bought for $5,275,000 by YouTube personality Logan Paul.

The series saw a resurgence during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even though some of the rarer cards are certified, Ficarra fears that a private collector may have purchased them.

“We have a list, but it’s going to take somebody recognizing those and knowing that they were stolen to contact us,” he said.

The theft occurred in the early morning hours of Jan. 3. Ficarra said he was alerted to a break-in at the store when someone broke the lock on the front door.

The case from which rare Pokémon cards worth a combined $10,000 were stolen from Metro Entertainment in Santa Barbara.
The case from which rare Pokémon cards worth a combined $10,000 were stolen from Metro Entertainment in Santa Barbara. Credit: Daniel Green / Noozhawk photo

The Santa Barbara Police Department responded not long after, but the thief had already made their escape. Ficarra said the suspect stole between 60 and 70 rare Pokémon cards — some worth thousands of dollars.

As of now, the SBPD says it does not have any additional information on the investigation.

Click here to donate to Metro Entertainment’s GoFundMe.

— Noozhawk staff writer Daniel Green can be reached at dgreen@noozhawk.com.