As Waxon nears its 27th anniversary, a break-in took a computer and products — but it’s the missing mascots, Agatha and Bjorn, that have the neighborhood searching.
SEATTLE — Inside Waxon on Capitol Hill, something feels off.
Employees noticed it right away. Not because of the computer that was gone, or the beauty products taken from the shelves, but because of what wasn’t there to greet them.
“The beavers were missing. That was the first thing I noticed,” said Isabella Breland, an esthetician and team trainer at the shop.
At Waxon, the beavers aren’t just decor.
They have names — Agatha and Bjorn — and for decades, they’ve been part of the shop’s identity, drawing smiles, photos and double-takes from passersby. Staff dress them up. Customers look for them in the window. In a space that leans into its cheeky branding, the pair became unlikely icons.
So when a break-in left them gone, it landed differently.
“The computer, okay… but the beavers. That was a hit,” said Maribel Morales, Waxon’s operations field manager.
The burglary happened earlier this month, as the business prepares to celebrate 27 years on Capitol Hill. Surveillance video shows a person entering the shop and leaving with items in hand including the two taxidermy mascots.
“He had only his hands and a little bag, and he was able to carry everything in one shot and leave,” Morales said.
The shop has since replaced what it can. A new computer. Restocked products. The routine of daily business.
But the absence of Agatha and Bjorn lingers.
“We treat them like family, so it’s kind of difficult to be without them,” Morales said. “We just want them back home.”
Waxon is now offering a $1,000 reward for the safe return of the beavers, and staff say customers have been keeping an eye out, calling shops, checking listings, spreading the word.
Because at Waxon, not everything is easily replaced.
“You can replace a computer,” Breland said. “Stuffed beavers are a little more difficult to come across.”
In the meantime, the shop is preparing a stand-in.
A third beaver from Waxon’s former Fremont location has been pulled from storage. That one, too, has a story.
“It was actually stolen from our Fremont location. A client recognized it and brought it back to us so you can really see the passion people have for these stuffed beavers,” Breland said.
Now, it’s being readied for the window ahead of the shop’s anniversary later this month to help fill the space until its counterparts return.
Or, as they put it, until their cousins come home.
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