“Dude, how do you steal from a place called Positive Vibes?”
Co-owner Chet Dillard believes there is some bad karma coming for a pair of thieves who broke into his Denver head shop Positive Vibes early Saturday, February 24, and stole between $50,000 and $65,000 worth of glass dab rigs, smokeable art and other merchandise.
“It was a guy and a girl,” Dillard describes, pointing to surveillance footage captured from inside and outside of the store, now located at 647 Santa Fe Drive after a six-year stint at 3398 South Broadway in Englewood.
Winner of Best Head Shop in Westword’s 2022 Best of Denver edition, Positive Vibes has amassed a large following in the glass community and blew up on Instagram during its time in Englewood from 2016 to 2022. More than 156,000 people currently follow the shop on Instagram, with over 186,000 tuning into a reel posted Saturday about the break-in.
“The girl went with all the cheap shit, while the guy was a little more heady,” Dillard tells Westword. “But still not completely heady, because we had some Bluegrasses and stuff like that he didn’t touch.”
“Heady” is a term used to describe high-end bongs, dab rigs and glassware made by well-known artists and the people who collect and use them. All in all, the bong bandits made off with at least thirty dab rigs and art pieces made by internationally known artists like Scotty Mickle, Niko Cray, Darby Holm, Elbo (also known as Matt Selbovitz) and Piratt Glass (also known as Josiah Kelly).
“The Scotty Mickle is worth $7,000,” Dillard says. “They took a Piratt Glass we had that was $6,000.”
According to Dillard and co-owner Sean McHue, the two thieves showed up on Lime scooters early Saturday and drilled out the lock to the front door. They entered the shop around 3:50 a.m. and spent roughly three minutes inside before leaving briefly on the scooters and returning around 4:30 a.m.
The owners of Positive Vibes believe a man and a woman are behind the heist.
Positive Vibes
“They left and realized no cops were coming, so they came back and started taking their time,” Dillard details. “The second time they were here for over ten minutes. We have shirts for sale so they were taking shirts and wrapping up the pieces and throwing them in duffel bags and backpacks. Then they left on the scooters, so we’re hoping that’s the nail in the coffin and the easiest thing to figure out. Because even if they stole the credit cards, they still have to use their phones, and there’s only two scooters in front of 674 Santa Fe Drive at 4:30 in the morning.”
“They’re clearly kids. I mean, they pulled up on Lime scooters. The whole thing was really goofy. There’s a bunch of weird stuff,” McHue adds.
Popular rigs made by artists like Bluegrass Glass that sell for tens of thousands of dollars were ignored while boxes of Raw rolling papers “which cost, like, $10” and cheaper pieces were swiped instead.
“Right next to the Darby-Elbo pendy was a Mike Luna-Darby pendy. Why would you not just grab both?” Dillard says. “That’s why I know [the thieves] are beginner-level heady, because they didn’t know what to take — and everyone knows you can’t steal rigs, because what are you going to do with them? You can’t even smoke a stolen rig with your friend. We have a reward out, and the community has always been behind us. They honestly picked like the worst smoke shop to hit up. We got over 180,000 views on our last video.”
Anyone who helps Positive Vibes or the Denver Police Department find the people responsible will be gifted a dab rig or store credit worth up to $2,000, according to Dillard, who believes the thieves have been to the shop before.
“They walked in and went straight to the register and shit, so they definitely cased it out,” he says. “They’ve definitely been here before, likely at an event or buying something.”
The DPD could not immediately provide information on the break-in.
The thieves conducted the heist on Lime scooters and were caught on surveillance tape making two trips to the Santa Fe smoke shop.
Positive Vibes
According to Dillard, many of the rigs were consignments and on layaway, but artists and customers will be getting their money back.
Positive Vibes has been robbed in the past, back when it “didn’t have the greatest insurance,” Dillard adds. But now the store is properly insured, and the owners havw all the proof the shop needs to get their money back for the glass they lost.
“They’re definitely going to fight us on it, but we have everything we need,” he says of the insurance process.
Dillard believes he’ll see some of the rigs again one day. “Yes, 100 percent,” he says. “Now whether they’re broken or scratched or anything, that’s one thing. I think they might think they’re slick and wait a month or two before trying to sell them.”
What really hurts Dillard is knowing that he was at Positive Vibes when the break-in took place.
“I was actually spending the night there because I wanted to wake up early and get ready for the Maps show,” Dillard says. “So that kind of horrifies me, low-key, on the inside. Unfortunately, I’m from Florida. I love rain and I fall asleep to thunder and rain noises, and our shop is super long — it goes super far back — and you can’t hear anything. Watching the video, it’s such a mixture between a gut feeling and, just, anger.”
Another thing “that sucks,” Dillard says, is the fact that the shop had just reopened on Santa Fe in December and was in the middle of finishing its security system.
“We actually have bars on the way for the front door,” he says. “They should have been here weeks ago, so that hurts. We have the shatter-proof windows, we put $30,000 into security, and we were just waiting on one piece. Every window is barred up, every other door is barred up, so it’s kind of just a bummer. I think once we get that done, we won’t have to worry. But until then I’m sleeping in the front room.”
As a way to recover, the shop plans to hold a “Fuck Thieves” glass event in March that will include pieces from dozens of artists.
“We have at least a hundred right now,” Dillard says of the glassblowers who’ve said they want to participate. “There’s so many artists wanting to just donate, but the economy is so bad I’d rather consign everything so we can both eat. We appreciate it, but we want to give them some money, too. Especially in the glass scene, which is taking a huge L right now. Unfortunately, we are not a necessity. No one needs a $10,000 bong.”
Dillard says Positive Vibes will come back stronger than ever, and if there’s anything positive to take from what happened, it’s that there is a community of people who care.
“For this to happen feels like a slap in the face,” Dillard says. “But it’s also been a blessing, because the support we’ve gotten has motivated me so much harder.”
Here’s a photo of several of the stolen glass pieces from Positive Vibes:
Some of the glass dab rigs and art pieces that were stolen from Positive Vibes.
Positive Vibes