COBBLE HILL — More than $5,000 in designer merchandise was stolen from two luxury Cobble Hill shops in incidents that took place within two days of each other, police said.
A thief entered Barneys New York, at 194 Atlantic Ave. on July 5, around 4:40 p.m. and took two Balenciaga bags, one pink and one black, worth $1,265 and $2,025 respectively, according to the police report.
The thief fled on Atlantic Avenue toward Court Street. Sources say the store's guard was on his break during the theft.
In May, more than $6,800 in Yves Saint Laurent merchandise had also been stolen from Barney's, police said.
Management at Barneys declined to comment.
Two days later, on July 7 at 5:18 p.m., Rag & Bone at 160 Court St. was hit.
Two women and a man took $1,755 in property, including six pairs of Rag & Bone jeans worth $210 each and a $495 black leather Rag & Bone Enfield Mini purse with a metal chain, according to the police report and store management.
The two women were talking to a store employee when one of the women left the conversation, picked up the merchandise and dropped it into a bag that the man was holding, police said.
The man left the shop while the women stayed and asked the employee another question before leaving as well, authorities said.
Jeffrey McEachern, an assistant store manager at Rag & Bone, was at the shop during the incident and recalled that the three thieves "cased the place" when they walked in, he said.
The two women tried to distract him and another store employee at the cash register, he said.
The man, McEachern said, had a "booster bag," lined with aluminum foil, that stopped the security alarm from catching the stolen products as he walked out the door.
"They're good at their job," he said. "It was crazy."
The Rag & Bone location may likely "beef up our staff" and talk to employees about crime prevention.
"It's very rare that this happens," he said.
It is not known whether the two crimes are related.
