The owners of Toronto’s Skull Store are hoping authorities will track down some of their strange and intriguing items stolen from their truck in Vancouver last weekend.
Jake Ouimette and his brother were in Vancouver last Sunday showcasing their unique wares at a tattoo show before heading to the Edmonton Tattoo and Arts Festival this weekend.
However, some of their oddities were stolen from their truck while it was parked in downtown Vancouver in the area of Richards and West Pender Streets.
“I got to the truck at 5:30 a.m. and I noticed the door was open and someone had cut the lock on the back of the door,” Ouimette said. “It was just raised up halfway.
“There were a couple of guys standing around — I didn’t want to look at it first — so I asked: was there anything in there? And they said it looked like there was still stuff in there.”
He opened the truck door and discovered the two back bins, the largest holding his collection, had been stolen. He contacted authorities and filed a police report but some of the articles taken are irreplaceable.
“Small pieces of crystals. We’ve got a kapala ram, which is used for ceremonies in Nepal. We had a jackalope taxidermy, which is a bunny rabbit with horns on it. We had all kinds of framed bats and bugs and lizards,” Ouimette said.
“We had necklaces. I’m a Metis artist and I make necklaces out of bone jewelry and a lot of those were taken, all kinds of stuff.”
All together, the company estimates the stolen items are worth more than $9,500 combined.
Skull Store still made it to Edmonton but with significantly fewer offerings.
“My booth should have been a lot bigger. I should have had three tables here. I should have had a lot more stuff to show,” Ouimette said.
“The two-headed cow that I usually have on display that got stolen. We had little two-headed ducklings that usually draw a lot of attention — all that stuff got stolen as well. All my cards too, so I had to order new cards before the show. It was pretty intense.”
He said police in Vancouver are keeping tabs on markets and other sales in case some of the stolen items show up.
Vancouver police confirmed they received a report Tuesday about the theft.
As of Saturday evening, no arrests had been made.
— With files from Sean Boynton
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