Watch: Masked ram-raiders crash into shop and steal £20k of Jellycats
Masked men crashed into a shop selling Jellycats before stealing £20,000 of the soft toys, CCTV shows.
The Gorge Bear Company shop in Cheddar, Somerset, was targeted by thieves at 4.40am on Sunday.
CCTV footage showed a Renault Twingo break down the door before a masked man emptied the shelves into a large bag.
Some 300 Jellycat and Charlie Bear soft toys were taken, according to Paul Pimlott, the company secretary.
Highly collectable Jellycat soft toys sell from between £12 to £200 each.
Mr Pimlott said the shop had never suffered a raid like it in its 25 years in business.
He added: 'We had over 300 soft toys stolen in the raid. We've been here since 1999 and nothing like this has happened before. But we've had lots of support from the community.
'And we will continue. We also own World of Bears in Taunton and have staff to look after. So as a local business we want to carry on contributing locally.'
He urged people to look out for items at car boot sales, on Vinted and on eBay.
The shop, which has been closed since the incident, is due to reopen on Thursday.
An Avon and Somerset police spokesman said: 'An investigation is under way into a burglary at a shop in Cheddar which happened in the early hours of Sunday March 30.
'We were called at 4.42am to a report that a car had been used to force access to the property in Queens Row with a significant quantity of soft toys having been stolen.
'Officers were deployed within minutes of the call being made and a search of the area was carried out to try and locate the vehicle involved – a silver Renault Twingo.'
It is not the first time thieves have targeted Jellycats.
A shopkeeper previously criticised police for failing to arrest a thief who stole the toys from his garden centre in Bridport, Dorset, last October. A £400 haul of Jellycats was taken.
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