The front of Virgin Remy Hair on Upshur Street (photo: Alexandra Zorn)

Virgin Remy Hair at 825 Upshur Street NW was broken into and burgled late Sunday night, May 31st, with products and some electronics stolen. The national chain store sells high-end hair products like extensions, wigs and other accessories.

A post of the Greater Petworth Facebook page around 1:30am stated the store had been broken into, with the front windows smashed and debris strewn across the store and onto the sidewalk. Residents on Georgia Avenue heard the glass breaking, and got the attention of police officers on 9th Street by Taylor who drive over to Upshur Street, but a police report wasn’t taken until this morning. A resident said he walked over to the store about 10 minutes after they informed the police of the noise and said he had a hard time seeing the broken glass, so it’s possible the officers didn’t see the broken storefront.

This is the second or third time the store has been burgled since it opened in 2014.

After residents saw the Greater Petworth Facebook post, several showed up at the store in the morning and volunteered to clean up the broken glass.

Store manager Mia Covington said that the interior cameras caught footage of the thieves breaking into the store. The front security gate behind the front windows was not closed, but the interior gate blocking off the front of the store from the back was locked.

“They took about ten wigs, some bundles of hair and an iPad, but they didn’t get any money,” she said. “They weren’t able to get into the rear of the store.”

Ms. Covington said she didn’t know about the burglary until she arrived at the store at 10am Monday morning.

“I was looking forward to reopening the store,” she said. “I parked down the block and saw a commotion in front of the store and wondered if the owners decided to repaint or something. That’s when I saw people out front cleaning up.”

She said she was heartened by the community response, and was waiting on the owners to arrange for plywood to cover up the broken windows.