Broken Arrow woman wants purse back from closed business
By Cathy Tatom
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BROKEN ARROW, Oklahoma (KJRH) — Karen Aten recently treated herself to an expensive Coach cross-body purse. The strap was too long for her petite frame so she took it to a long-time Broken Arrow business, John’s Shoe Repair, to have it shortened.
The first time, shop owner John Yi glued the trimmed-down strap back together. When that didn’t hold, Aten took it back to get it stitched on Dec. 27.
“With John you have to pay before the service is done,” she said. “I paid him again to fix my purse again, to stitch it.” He told her she could pick it up the next day.
“I came back the very next day, December 28th, to pick up my purse and the lights were off and there was a sign on the window that said permanently closed due to health reasons.”
Over the next few weeks she told 2 News she called, and called, and called the number on the store window but it just rang and rang.
Not knowing what else she could do, she contacted us to see if we could locate the business’s owner and her purse.
Using public records, we located Yi’s son and told him Aten had a receipt and wanted her purse. He told us when the shop closed the family hired a man to clean it out. He checked with the man and discovered he still had the purse.
Yi’s son then arranged for his father’s chaplain to return the purse to Aten.
“My heart is just full of gratitude,” said Aten. “I couldn’t thank you enough, Cathy, and Channel 2. Thank you for helping all the people here in Tulsa County.”
She also expressed sympathy for Yi’s deteriorating health.
“Give him our best and tell him thank you.”
While this time we were able to reunite a customer with her possessions left at a business that closed, more often than not, when a business shutters and is cleared out, that doesn’t happen.
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