Gucci store in San Francisco broken into, purses stolen

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Police in San Francisco say someone backed a vehicle into a Gucci store early Saturday morning and got away with purses.

Potential Gucci customers strolled alongside shattered glass Saturday. Their shopping dreams were equally crushed.

"I was hoping to get a Gucci belt; my grandma looked it up in the hotel room and everything. We came here and got food and came right over," Khepri De Walt said.

Gucci was closed while crews spent hours installing temporary plywood doors. The one-inch-thick triple laminate glass doors and window collapsed inside.

The suspect grabbed a bunch of Gucci purses and took off.

"Yeah, it's unfortunate. You wouldn't expect something like that here especially with the types of stores and this location it was a bit surprising for us to get here and find this," Ray Sabio said.

Sabio planned to exchange a pair of Gucci sneakers for another size.

That chore will have to wait.

"Oh I'm sure the girls will find something to do, we'll shop, get lunch and hopefully they'll be back open," Sabio said.

The manager at Gucci declined to comment.

A nearby store manager said this was just the latest in a series of Union Square smash and grabs. That store suffered four break-ins before management installed a steel gate. Each suspect stole just a few thousand dollars of merchandise, but left tens of thousands of dollars of damage and additional security costs behind.

"That's terrible, really terrible and surprising actually," Diana De Walt said.

Gucci reopened around 2 p.m. Police say they are looking for just one suspect, but they have not released a description at this time.