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Artichoke Community Music on Southeast Powell Avenue was the victim of two consecutive break-ins. December 28, 2023 (Courtesy of Artichoke Community Music).
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A local music store and nonprofit that supports local musicians has suffered a huge financial loss after experiencing a series of break-ins last week.
About $2,500 worth of music was stolen from the Artichoke Community Music store on Southeast Powell Boulevard, which caused thousands of dollars in damage to the store.
“It makes me very angry, you know, you feel violated,” said Shelley Garett, executive director of Artichoke Community Music.
Garrett said surveillance footage from Dec. 19 showed two people breaking in and stealing six guitars in “20 seconds.”
Just four days later, on December 23, a man broke in again and stole two guitars. Portland police were able to recover a guitar stolen during a Dec. 23 robbery, but not the others.
Garrett said because it was a consignment shop, that meant a large check had to be written out to the original owner of the stolen instrument.
“Most of the stolen instruments belong to other people. We still have to pay those recipients. They trust our instruments. So I wrote a lot of checks to people yesterday to show that we receive no benefit from the sale of these tools. “
Garrett estimated that repairing the door itself would cost thousands of dollars, and they would have to replace it with a locked metal garage door to keep thieves out.
The broken doors and windows had to be replaced with plywood due to the inability to replace them. This all comes after the store has yet to fully recover financially from four break-ins last spring.
“We’re a nonprofit like everyone else. We’re struggling,” Garrett said. “I would like to see our windows re-glassed instead of plywood, it would be more popular.”
Artichoke Community Music celebrated its 50th anniversary just last year. In addition to selling instruments, it serves as an incubator for young musicians, including hosting open mics.
“We have different formats for our shows where people can learn how to perform and move up to feature shows. We have classes upstairs, workshops, a great instrument shop,” Garrett said.
Anyone with any information about the break-in is encouraged to call Portland police.
As for Artichoke Community Music, they will host a fundraiser with live music on Saturday, December 30 at 7:30 pm at their location at 2007 SE Powell Blvd.
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