by Sahar Foladi
Customers are demanding compensation after a series of break-ins at a Hallam self-storage facility.
Tens of thousands of dollars worth of superhero collectibles and musical instruments are believed to be among the loot stolen from storage lockers at the StoreLocal business on Monday afternoon, 4 September.
A devastated Endeavour Hills couple are bearing the loss of what was more than 10 years of collection.
Kelly Davis shared the news on Facebook, asking the community to watch out online for their collectibles which included superheroes, figurines and comic cards.
“We went down there, the lock was cut off, everything was trashed and they smashed some statues.
“Some of them you can pay $1,000 to $3,000. The value of our statues is phenomenal.
“One was smashed to pieces – we’d paid $1500 for that alone,” she said.
“Since the post I’ve had five different people say they were there and had their storage broke in.”
A total of 20 units at Store Local was broken into according to Ms Davis, with some items chucked out in various other units.
“Ninety per cent is gone, there’s hardly anything there except for boxes.”
At the inspection of the break-in, Ms Davis received another call letting her know another one of her lockers was broken into, located right next to the other.
“Some of the collectibles were from my husband’s personal collection. He’s devastated.
“It’s devastating that we must start from scratch again.
“My husband has comic collectable cards and figurines worth thousands of dollars for a small one.”
Husband Marty Davis, an enthusiast covered in superhero tattoos, spent thousands on some of the imported collectibles not found in Australia, which adds an additional “fortune” on freight costs.
Hulk, Deadpool, Batman, Spiderman and other hero statues have been taken or damaged. Ms Davis said they’re yet to find out the true extent of their loss, however it seems they’ve taken everything.
The couple own a fish and chip shop in Doveton, a gym in Cranbourne and a vibrant superhero themed coffee shop in Hallam, not far from the storage unit so to help them swap out collectibles easily.
“When we opened our coffee shop we did it as a superhero theme to get some of the collectibles out of the house for people to see.
“That’s why our collection is bigger than what it normally would’ve been.”
The Davis’ had recently downsized to a house in Endeavour Hills and thought to store their collectibles at a storage unit.
Many people affected have been “put out” as there’s no insurance coverage as well, Ms Davis said.
The group of people affected by the break-ins are working together to seek compensation from the company.
“I rang the storage to request for footage, the staff said why didn’t your husband put the padlock on his unit and I said we did and he said it’s not on there,” Ms Davis said.
“Turns out it had been broken in again.
“And the camera footage doesn’t pick up the faces or number plates.”
CCTV was only installed front of the main door with no alarm or cameras inside the facility according to Ms Davis.
Some customers including Ms Davis think the robbers specifically targeted them, backed by great planning.
The company has since asked customers if they’d like to relocate storage units but several aren’t keen, she said.
Police were called to the store where fingerprints were taken for tests, she said.
Store Local was contacted for comment.
