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Fashion stores increase security, fearing US election unrest amid warnings from experts and police
- Luxury brands are boarding up storefronts, installing reinforced glass, and employing on-call protection services as next month’s US election nears
- During Black Lives Matter protests this summer, stores in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and other US cities were looted and had windows smashed
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This time last year, shoppers on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile were waiting for Louis Vuitton to debut its whimsical holiday window decorations. Now those same windows are hidden behind a wall of wood panels painted bright orange.
While still open for shoppers, stores like Gucci, H&M and Nordstrom are also boarded up after looters targeted the city’s famed retail district in the spring and summer, when protests gripped more than 100 cities in the United States.
As security experts warn that the US presidential election could spark renewed civil unrest, those stores remain clad in plywood as retailers seek to keep property and employees safe in the event street violence flares anew.
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“You have to ask: ‘Do we want to be safe?’” said Andy, 50, the owner of Vickie’s Nail Salon. The Magnificent Mile shop was broken into and robbed during early morning mayhem that erupted after the police shooting of a young black man in August.
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Andy, who declined to provide his full name, has kept plywood on his windows ever since. He also puts a panel over the front door at closing time. “Let’s see how things turn out after the election. If we don’t feel it’s safe, then we’ll have to keep boarding up every night.”
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