Upper West Side Smoke Shop Robbed Of $30K Days After Opening: Police

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Burglars raided an Upper West Side smoke shop days after it opened for more than $30,000 in goods, a police spokesperson told Patch.

One burglar threw a rock through Exotic Smoke Shop's glass front door at 483 Columbus Ave., between 83rd and 84th streets, about 3:10 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

The group then sauntered into the store, nabbed $30,900 of merchandise and fled, police said.

The NYPD spokesperson did not say what the group took.

The burglary at Exotic Smoke Shop is the latest in a string of break-ins that have happened at smoke shops on the Upper West Side over the past couple of years.

Unique News & Smoke Shop on the corner of West 79th Street was robbed four times in 2021, losing $30,500 in goods, police said.

More recently, a smoke shop at the corner of West 108th Street and Amsterdam was robbed at knife point for thousands of dollars at the end of June.

At the beginning of August, a good Samaritan got shot trying to stop a robbery at the Lincoln Convenience Deli on Broadway between 70th and 71st streets — it was the second time in a matter of days that the store was robbed.

There have been no arrests for the burglary Wednesday morning, and an investigation is ongoing.