Big Cow Is Home And Hiding After Theft From Hoboken Ben & Jerry's

HOBOKEN, NJ — Visitors to Hoboken’s Ben and Jerry’s shop have recently been greeted by a sad sign advising that their popular cow bench named Marilyn — normally located outside the store for kids to sit on — has been stolen. But the story is a bit more complicated, and the result is udderly satisfying.

According to the poster inside the shop, the cow bench suddenly disappeared on Oct. 21 of last year. “Our cow-ch has been cow-napped and has been missing ever since," reads the sign. "We are reaching out to our Hoboken community to help us bring our beloved Marilyn home...please return her safely and unharmed, for the children of Hoboken are heartbroken."

The shop on Washington Street has a few tables in front for outdoor dining these days, but no Marilyn.

Shop owner Sibel Berberoglou clarified on Wednesday just where Marilyn is hiding.

Berberoglou said that the saga began last year.

On a Saturday night in October, she said, the store workers were closing up. In the blink of an eye, the cow bench was gone.

“Someone said, ‘I can’t believe I was just out there, and it’s gone,' " Berberoglou said. "They took it right under our noses.”

Then, the store employees “heard through the grapevine” that people were posting photos of Marilyn around town on social media, Berberoglou said. The last photos depicted her on the campus of the Stevens Institute of Technology.

Berberoglou contacted the college and said, “We’d appreciate it if whoever took the cow would return her to us.” She heard the heist was related to a fraternity.

Before the end of the year, the cow appeared in an alley near her store, Berberoglou said.

“She was a little bruised,” Berberouglou said. “She needed a lot of TLC. She's back home. We brought her back to good health. She's resting downstairs right now.”

So why isn’t Marilyn out front to greet the children?

The store closed temporarily in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, and then reopened in June, but workers decided to keep Marilyn inside.

Berberouglou said that the cow’s presence might encourage people to violate the current coronavirus social distancing recommendations of sitting six feet apart during outdoor dining. “We felt having the cow wouldn’t [promote] that,” she said.

She said that before winter, she may bring the cow outside briefly for an appearance and a few photo.

The shop will remain open throughout winter, serving specialties like hot cocoa in addition to ice cream.

Berberouglou said the store workers took the missing posters down months ago, but found them recently and re-posted them to stir conversation. People have been asking about them, she said, and this gave her a chance to explain why the cow isn't out.

So if you had "Stolen cow bench" on your 2020 BINGO card — well, you lose, because the heist happened in 2019. But you can put a chip on "cow bench in hiding."

Berberouglou owns three other Ben & Jerry’s shops in New Jersey.

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