A thief stole roughly 20,500 Pokemon cards from a Winnipeg shop after crawling through a vent and breaking through a wall, prompting owner Terri Settle to plan to stop selling the cards once her remaining stock is gone. The overnight break-in happened on Sept. 8 at Terri’s Trinkets and Toys in Winnipeg’s north end, and cost Settle about $2,500.

Settle had thought she had addressed the theft risk in August, when someone entered the store, grabbed a box filled with Japanese Pokemon cards and ran. A worker caught up with the person and recovered the cards. Settle then secured the box to a shelf with zip ties, but the knots were not tight enough to prevent another theft.

After the September break-in, Settle said she no longer wants to take the risk of selling the cards. “It’s just not worth the risk,” she said. She does not expect to recover the loss, saying many people whose Pokemon collections are stolen do not insure them because coverage can be expensive. “I think you’ll hear that from a lot of people in this kind of business.”

The Winnipeg theft is one of a series of Pokemon card thefts reported in Canada and the United States in recent years, with losses reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars. In July 2024, a worker at an Ontario store was struck in the head by someone fleeing with three Pokemon cards valued at roughly $5,000, according to the Durham Regional Police Service.

In central Alberta, a store owner lost a binder of cards worth about $18,000 in a theft last month, Alberta RCMP Cpl. Mathew Howell said. The most valuable card in the binder depicted Umbreon ex, a black, cat-like Pokemon. Mounties are asking Albertans to watch for stolen cards being offered through online storefronts.

“Facebook Marketplace and these kinds of things where people are selling cards, especially the more rare cards, just try to be vigilant,” Howell said. He noted that there is no straightforward way to identify every specific card, although some of the rarer cards carry identification numbers.

University of Alberta business professor Utku Akkoc said the thefts are understandable given the emotional appeal and potential value of the cards. “There’s a nostalgic appeal for some people,” said Akkoc, who recalled owning Pokemon cards as a child and watching the original Pokemon show with his siblings. For people past a certain age, he said, the franchise can recall earlier years.

Akkoc said people buy the cards in part to reconnect with those memories. “Research shows that when people feel nostalgic, they also spend or would like to spend money,” he said. Limited supply can also drive prices upward, he said, when collectors seek particular cards.

The Pokemon franchise began about 30 years ago, when Japanese video game developer Game Freak Inc. released two games for Nintendo’s Game Boy. It has since grown into a global business spanning animated shows, mobile games, trading cards and other merchandise. The video and card games put players in the role of trainers who use Pokemon, or monsters, to battle other monsters, with each character having strengths and weaknesses. Pikachu, the iconic yellow, mouse-like Pokemon, is a fast flyer but is not good at defending itself against ground attacks.

The value of rare cards has drawn attention beyond collectors. Earlier this year, social media personality Logan Paul sold a Pikachu Illustrator card for a record US$16.5 million, after buying it in 2021 for more than US$5 million. Guinness World Records said on its website that, following the sale, it became the most expensive trading card sold at auction.

The Pikachu Illustrator was designed by Pikachu’s original creator, according to Guinness. It was not made for public sale like a regular Pikachu card; it was awarded as a prize in an illustration contest organized by a Japanese magazine in 1998.

Trading cards are graded by companies including U.S.-based Professional Sports Authenticator, or PSA, on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 representing pristine mint condition. Paul’s card received a PSA 10. PSA says a perfect card has four sharp corners, sharp focus and full original gloss, and must be free of staining. A slight printing flaw may be allowed if it does not reduce the card’s overall appeal.

The Canadian Press report was first published Sept. 26, 2026, by Fakiha Baig, with files from The Associated Press.

Based on reporting by CTV News Edmonton.