It happened around 4:45 p.m. Friday on Nixon Drive in the East Gate Square Shopping Center.
Some customers who were shopping at the store on Monday were shocked to learn of the crime.
"I've lived around here my entire life and I've never really heard of anything like that happening. It's not a common thing in this town," said Keaton Adinolfi of Medford, NJ.
On Monday, police released a surveillance photo of one of five suspects. The man is shown with several items of clothing in his hands. Police say four other masked men were involved. Altogether, the suspects got away with $10,000 in North Face and Nike merchandise, causing hundreds of dollars in damage as they escaped the store.
"This isn't just shoplifting, this is organized crime, basically," said Bill Patterson of Sea Isle City.
According to FBI data analyzed by the 6abc Data Journalism team, shoplifting cases are up more than 28% from 2022 to 2023 in New Jersey. That's roughly double the increase nationwide during the same period.
Customers are frustrated.
"It's moving there from the big cities of Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and now it seems to be spreading to the suburbs," Patterson said. "They just come in five, six, eight people at a time, grab what they want and the security's not allowed to take 'em out."
In addition to a photo of one of the suspects, police also released a picture of the suspect's vehicle, a white, late model Acura TLX Type S that they hope will help their investigation.
Mt. Laurel police didn't say how quickly the thieves were in and out, but shoppers were baffled at how they could get away with so much.
"Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money, so it's shocking to see someone steal that much from a local store like this," Adinolfi said.
It appears no one was hurt during the theft. Dick's Sporting Goods did not respond to a request for comment Monday.