Sentimental Plaque Stolen From Jersey City's 902 Brewing Wall

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Small businesses are sadly no stranger to robberies. They lock away their valuables and secure their profits, but one thing they don't think of locking up? Sentimental items.

Jersey City's 902 Brewery woke up Thursday morning to a disheartening sight: their framed plaque of a proclamation from the mayor and the city was stolen right out of the frame. The frame itself still hangs empty on the wall.

"What kind of human steals a sentimental, but otherwise worthless, decoration like that? Is proudly displaying the company's history really something we have to guard under lock and key?!?! BE BETTER," the brewery exclaimed in a Facebook post.

Brewery CFO Don Vogt told Patch the robbery had to have happened while the brewery was open between Wednesday and Thursday.

"No one is gonna break-in at night just for that — unless you're part of the 902 family, that should mean nothing to you," Vogt said.

The proclamation was for the team's first gypsy brewing facilities ribbon cutting and was signed by Mayor Steven Fulop. Vogt said the brewery has come a long way and the proclamation was a reminder of their journey.

902 Brewery is located at 101 Pacific Avenue and has been open for about a year and a half. The start of the brewery was tough with the pandemic, Vogt said, but now that they're able to serve at 100 percent capacity, things are looking up.

The team has gotten a few Instagram messages about the robbery since they announced the plaque was missing, but nothing fruitful enough to track the plaque down. Vogt said the team isn't interested in escalating the issue and involving the police.

"Jersey City police have bigger things to worry about than a stolen piece of paper," Vogt said, still disheartened the brewery is in the situation to begin with, "You'd think people have better things to do than steal something sentimental from a business."