Update: Theft crew swipes $15K worth of purses from posh downtown boutique

A Saint Laurent purse valued at over $1,000. | Yelp

A four-man shoplifting mob stormed a posh boutique in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel on Thursday afternoon and escaped with ten handbags worth an estimated $15,000, according to police. (Initial reports from the scene indicated that seven bags worth about $10,000 were taken.)

The men entered Saint Laurent at 11 East Walton just before 2 p.m., collected a selection of pricey women’s purses, and then fled to an SUV that was waiting outside, police said. One of the thieves wore a ski mask.

Facts first. 100% reader-funded. Click here to support CWBChicago today.

Surveillance video showed the offenders are four black men in their 20’s. One wore black and white gym shoes, a dark hoodie, and jeans. Another wore tan Timberlands, light blue jeans, and a dark hoodie. The third wore a dark hoodie with sweatpants. And the fourth wore all black.

A witness said the men fled northbound on State Street in a black SUV bearing Michigan plates.

This isn’t the first time that thieves have hit the Saint Laurent store hard.

In August 2018, employees evacuated the shop following a robbery in which shoplifters pepper-sprayed a security guard while stealing $12,000 worth of purses.

Two months later, a robbery team took $64,000 worth of purses from the nearby Christian Dior store. Three people were arrested days later when they allegedly tried to sell one of those purses — valued at $34,000 — to an undercover cop for $9,000. One of the offenders received a prison sentence while two others got off with probation.


About Tim Hecke 5786 Articles
Tim Hecke is CWBChicago's managing partner. He started his career at KMOX, the legendary news radio station in St. Louis. From there, he moved on to work at stations in Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York City. Tim went on to build syndicated radio news and content services that served every one of America's 100 largest radio markets. He became CWBChicago's managing partner in 2019. He can be reached at tim@cwbchicago.com