After a rash of thefts in downtown Whitehorse, store owners have lost thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise.

At least three downtown retailers, who were hit by break and enters in the last few months, have been left holding a bill for approximately $25,000 in lost merchandise and damage done to their stores.

Yukon Harley-Davidson Ltd. has been burglarized on two occasions since November.

The first burglary of the Waterfront Place business happened on Nov. 11 with a second one occurring on Dec. 4.

Store manager Blayne Epp said today there were two attempted break and enters in 2004, neither of them successful.

The two recent burglaries were the first thefts the store has experienced, he said.

After the November incident, the store decided to up its security by putting up bars in the windows, he said.

Before the bars could be installed though, the second theft occurred.

'Before we had a chance to get the bars on, they broke in again. So we just boarded up everything,' he said.

'So it looks like we're closed down but we're actually open.'

While a couple of thousand dollars' worth of damage was done to the store, most of the $10,000-loss was due to the value of the stolen items.

While the suspects remain unknown to Whitehorse RCMP, they broke into the store and made off with a variety of women's clothing made of leather.

The stolen merchandise includes three jackets, four vests and three chaps, according to police.

The clothing will likely be easy to sell, Epp said, because there are no markers to show they came from the Whitehorse location.

'They went after leathers and things like that they could probably get rid of easy,' he said.

The gear could have been purchased at any Harley-Davidson store in the country, Epp said.

'They could sell them anywhere and we wouldn't know if they bought it from us or if they bought it from down South.'

The North End Gallery and the Sears store were also hit recently.

Gallery owner Art Webster reported that a quantity of hand-carved silver jewelry and five one-of-a-kind first nations masks were taken from his First Avenue shop.

He was left in the lurch for about $9,000 for the lost items and damage done during the theft.

The masks, however, would be hard to sell locally, he said.

North End gallery is the only carrier of Yukon-made first nations masks and the community has been alerted to watch for the missing items, he said.

The Sears store was also hit two nights in a row over the the last few weeks.

After the first break-in, three high-end televisions were stolen, the Star reported last week. The following night, another TV was taken.

Webster believes the theft at the North End gallery was planned.

'We think somebody cased out our gallery and zeroed in on those pieces,' he said.

Similarly, Epp said those who targeted Yukon Harley-Davidson seemed to know what they were after.

'It seems like they know what they're doing, whoever is breaking in,' he said.'They came organized, whoever it is.'

In the wake of the thefts, Epp said the store is striving to improve security as there is little else to be done.

'All you can do is make sure you have the best security.'