Burglars struck at two Menlo Park businesses over the past several days.
Someone smashed a glass side door at Beltramo’s Wine & Spirits, at 1540 El Camino Real, on July 14, and broke in, stealing bottles of wine with an estimated total value of about $65,000, according to a report from the Menlo Park Police Department.
It was a targeted theft, Diana Beltramo Hewitt, the daughter of co-owner Daniel Beltramo, told the Almanac.
“They knew certainly what was of value and what they were coming for and where it was located,” she said.
The second commercial burglary took place on Monday, July 18, when a man walked into Menlo Park Hardware, at 700 Santa Cruz Ave., picked up two drills, a total value of $220, and left the store without paying for them, police said.
Police describe the man as white, with visible tattoos and wearing brown work pants and a baseball cap. He was last seen heading east on Valparaiso Avenue in a silver station wagon, police said.
Among the stolen wines at Beltramo’s were bottles of First Growth Bordeaux, “some of the most expensive wines in the world,” Beltramo Hewitt said. Prices range between $500 to more than $1,000 a bottle, she added.
Labels of the stolen wines included chateaus Margaux, Haut-Brion, Mouton Rothschild, Latour and Lafite Rothschild, she said.
After 134 years in business, Beltramo’s will close for good on Saturday, July 23, Beltramo Hewitt said.
“We still have wine to sell,” she said.
This article confused me. Did Beltramos suddenly decide to close because of the burglary or was the closing already planned?
@Sylvia:
Click the hyperlink “Beltramo’s will close” which will lead you to this article:
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2016/05/09/beltramos-wines–spirits-is-closing-its-doors-in-menlo-park
In a nutshell, the store had already decided to close. The reasons for the closure are detailed in the aforementioned article. I’ll leave it for you to read rather than rehash the article here.