Naperville police were called in to respond to an armed robbery at Dean’s Dugout located in the strip mall at 2035 South Washington Street Naperville, Illinois on December 31, 2023.
Dean’s Dugout is beloved trading card retailer and FLGS, owned by Dean and Marilyn Bapes, that has been a mainstay business in the Naperville community for decades. They carry primarily sports cards, collectibles, and TCGs as well as host professional athlete signings and organized play events for Digimon CG, Magic: The Gathering, Cardfight!! Vanguard, and Dungeons & Dragons. The robbery occurred at around 3:51 PM, about 30 minutes before close. Here is Bapes’ account of the events from a post on the store’s Facebook:
“Marilyn and I want to update everyone first-hand about what happened at the Dugout 30 minutes before we closed on Sunday; certainly not the way we hoped the year would end. Being a musician, I was scheduled to play two New Years Eve jobs, (and) our friend Mobin said he would come in and help Marilyn after I left and I am thankful he was with her.
A man came into the store, walked around for a few minutes and left but came back about 10 minutes later when there were no customers in the store. He checked out different product then stepped back and said he was going to rob us, and that Mobin and Marilyn should not try to stop him; which they didn’t. He grabbed product and put it in a bag he was carrying, told them not to stop in or come after him and to not call the police until he left and he ran out. They were able to get a photo and a video of the vehicle he jumped into and the police were called and they arrived within minutes.”
Dean Bapes also posted the following message to their customers to re-affirm that their store is committed to being a safe place for their customers, as it has always been:
“Reports have been made, video being reviewed and we hope he will be caught; no one was hurt, just ‘stuff’ taken. In 32-plus years, this has never happened to us and we hope we never repeat the experience,” wrote Bapes. “Please know that your support and safety is paramount with us and that will never waver. We appreciate all the emails and posts of concern and support for us; it means a lot to us that you will still be a Dean’s Dugout customer.”
Their store is open for their normal hours of business, and a police investigation into the robbery is ongoing.
Source: ICv2
