FAMILY-OWNED JEWELRY STORE Ylang 23 in Highland Park, Texas, is rebuilding after a violent smash-and-grab burglary that resulted in an estimated $500,000 in losses and left its owners shaken—but determined to move forward.
Shortly after midnight on Friday, January 23rd, three masked and gloved suspects forced their way into Ylang 23 using sledgehammers to shatter the glass entry. Surveillance footage shows the entire burglary lasted less than four minutes, yet the damage was extensive. Jewelry and display items were taken, and shattered glass and broken showcases were strewn across the store’s 3,200-square-foot sales floor.
Co-owner Alysa Teichman said her father, Charles Teichman — who co-founded the store with his wife Joanne — received a call from the alarm company at approximately 12:11 a.m.
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“Charles was in bed when the alarm company called,” Alysa said. “Sometimes they call if there’s a Wi-Fi outage, so he opened the camera app on his phone. When he saw three men inside the store, he immediately said, ‘Dispatch police right now.’”
Charles rushed to the store, which is normally a 15-minute drive from his home, arriving in just six minutes. “When he got there, it looked like a crime scene—glass everywhere,” Alysa said. “His hands were shaking so badly it took him four tries to disarm the alarm. He spent the next several hours working side by side with the police and the detective.”
The suspects fled before officers arrived, according to Highland Park police. No employees were present during the break-in, and no injuries were reported.
When Charles called Alysa to tell her what had happened, she was at home in New York. “After we talked for a bit, I threw some things into a suitcase, grabbed my dog, and went straight to the airport to get on the earliest flight back to Dallas,” she said. “There’s no playbook for moments like this, but I knew I’d be most helpful—emotionally and logistically—by being in the store.”
In the days since the burglary, Alysa said the experience has been overwhelming. “The last week has been a blur of dealing with police, insurance, contractors, vendors, and staff,” she said. “It’s an incredible amount of detail to manage, but after every phone call, I feel like we’re making progress.”
Founded in 1985, Ylang 23 celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. The new location of the store, constructed in 2024, was the winner of INSTORE’s 2025 America’s Coolest Jewelry Store awards in the Big Cool division.
“That store was always a labor of love,” Charles Teichman said. “It was what we always dreamed of. And we hope that we will start again and succeed as we have in the past.”
Emotionally, the impact has been profound. “We’ve never experienced anything like this before,” Alysa said. “It’s incredibly violating to have people try to so violently destroy something my family spent four decades building. I’m going through the same stages of grief you might feel after a death—sadness, anger, shock—it comes and goes constantly.”
She added that the outpouring of support has helped carry them through the aftermath. “The outreach from friends, strangers, and the jewelry community has been overwhelming in the best way,” she said. “It’s made us feel incredibly loved.”
Despite the damage, the business remains operational in a limited capacity. Online orders continue to ship, and the store plans to reopen fully once repairs are complete.
“We had 12 showcases completely destroyed,” Alysa said. “We’re hoping to have new glass installed by the end of next week or early the following week.”
Looking back, Alysa said the experience has already reshaped how the family thinks about security—and she hopes other jewelry retailers will take note.
“I think the biggest lesson is that we became complacent,” she said. “Because it had never happened to us, we felt like it never would. That created a false sense of security.”
As Ylang 23 works toward reopening, the Teichman family says they are focused on rebuilding—not just the store, but the sense of safety and trust that was shattered in just a few minutes.
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