Owner says burgled shop 'not a safe space' for him

The owner of a gaming card shop said his business felt "no longer a safe space for him" after £100,000 worth of stock and cash was stolen from the premises.

Collectors Corner in Culley, Court, Orton Southgate, Peterborough, was broken into on 27 January by a person who spent about 25 minutes forcing entry through a quadruple-glazed front window before ransacking the store.

Juliano Scibelli, the shop's owner, said he returned to the store to reopen on Wednesday, but found the experience emotionally overwhelming.

"I wasn't ready to come back," he said. "I've gone through a lot of mental strain. Being inside the shop now fills me with anxiety."

The 34-year-old started his online trading card business nearly 15 years ago and recently opened the physical store which had been visited by enthusiasts from across the country, he said.

He added the suspect was seen filling bags with high-value trading cards, including individual cards worth between £2,000 and £5,000, as well as sealed boxes valued at up to £4,000 each.

About £8,000 in cash was also taken from the till.

Scibelli said the first images of the break-in, which were sent to him by neighbours, were so distressing that he initially believed they were fake.

"I honestly thought it was AI-generated," he said. "It is devastating to see everything you've built taken away in 30 minutes."

Scibelli said he opened Collectors Corner out of love and passion for trading cards.

He initially expected it to be a small business, but he said he experienced immediate success with customers queuing to enter the store from across the region.

"There was such a sense of achievement," he said.

However, the emotional strain of the burglary has almost pushed him to "give up" on his dream.

"I was crushed. I thought, what's the point? This will just happen again but having chatted to people I realised I can't let this person ruin my dream," he said.

He added that high insurance premiums and repair costs have added further pressure.

"My shop is no longer a safe space for me," he said.

"I'm watching everyone who walks in. I'm suspicious of anyone and everyone. I feel paranoid, and that's not how I ever wanted to see my customers."

Despite the setback, Scibelli said he has been overwhelmed by support from the local community, with cards, donations and hundreds of messages of encouragement sent in recent days.

"It softens the blow...but it's still a lot to deal with," he said.

He has previously expressed frustration at what he described as a lack of urgency around crimes targeting trading card businesses and called for them to be taken more seriously.

"If this was a jeweller, it would be front-page news," he said.

"There's this stigma that it's 'just cardboard', but some of these cards are worth more than cars or even houses, and it needs to be taken seriously," he said.

Cambridgeshire Police said inquiries were ongoing and anyone with information relating to the burglary was urged to contact officers.

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