Retailers brace for possibility of post-election turbulence
In a year marked by unrest and upheaval, retailers across the country are taking measures this week, and spending millions of dollars, to protect their stores.
In New York City, businesses including Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square and high-end shops in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood had already covered their windows. Similar scenes played out in Chicago and other major cities across the U.S., with business owners fearing that today’s election could lead to the sort of unrest that broke out earlier this year.
In downtown Washington, the sounds of hammers and power tools echoed through the streets Monday as workers boarded up dozens of businesses. Just a short walk from the White House, construction workers were carrying large sheets of plywood. For block after block, most stores had their windows and doors covered. Some kept just a front door open, hoping to attract a little business.
“We have to be ready,” said Ali Khan 66, who works at a now-barricaded downtown Washington liquor store where thousands of dollars in merchandise was stolen during June protests. “They smashed the windows and just walked out with everything.”
Washington authorities pledged to keep the peace, with police officials saying the entire department would be on the job today.
“Some people would like to cause mayhem and trouble,” Mayor Muriel Bowser
said. “We are preparing to ensure the city’s safety.”
In New York City, a Police Department memo to officers called the vote “one of the most highly contested presidential elections in the modern era” and noted that the winner “may not be decided for several weeks.”
Police there have been holding tabletop exercises to prepare for potential unrest and are shifting hundreds of officers to patrol duties.
Nordstrom, the high-end department store chain, said it planned to board up some of its 350 stores and hire extra security. Tiffany & Co., the luxury jeweler, said that “windows of select stores in key cities will be boarded in anticipation of potential election-related activity.” Saks Fifth Avenue said it was “implementing additional security measures at certain locations in the event of civil unrest due to the current election.”
“We don’t see specific reports or threats at this point,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters Monday. “We are ready for all sorts of challenges. A lot of preparation has been happening over the last few weeks, and I’m meeting with city officials today to continue that preparation.”
In a show of just how volatile the situation seems to the industry, 120 representatives from 60 retail brands attended a videoconference last week hosted by the National Retail Federation, which involved training for store employees on how to deescalate tensions among customers, including those related to the election. The trade group also hired security consultants who have prepped retailers on which locations around the country are likely to be the most volatile when the polls close.
‘TRIGGERING EVENT’
With the civil unrest this summer, the coronavirus pandemic and a divisive election season, business owners are weighing the prospect of further unrest in a way they haven’t during past elections, said Eric White, executive vice president at the security firm Brosnan Risk Consultants.
“It’s clearly a potential triggering event,” he said.
Shoppers may see more stores closing early today as businesses take extra safety precautions and make sure employees have time to vote.
Retailers are used to responding to emergencies such as severe storms, but it’s harder to predict when and where civil unrest will arise, White said. Precautions also will depend on whether retailers think employees will be able to get to work and whether customers will feel comfortable shopping.
Macy’s boarded up its State Street store in Chicago on Friday. The department store said it was adding security measures at several stores “out of an abundance of caution,” but it did not say what those measures would include.
Magnificent Mile Association Chairman Rich Gamble said he thinks Chicago is better prepared to react to potential unrest than it was this summer. Police have been more visible on Michigan Avenue and in the surrounding area, and there has been regular communication among the business community, city officials and police.
“There’s a greater degree of confidence in the city’s ability … to be responsive,” Gamble said. “What you don’t know is what individuals and groups may do. There are plans in place to handle a very fluid situation.”
In Beverly Hills, Calif., police said they would take a “proactive approach” and close Rodeo Drive, a renowned strip of luxury retailers, today and Wednesday, citing the likelihood of increased “protest activity.” Police, working with private security companies, said they would also be on “full alert” throughout Beverly Hills starting on Halloween and continuing into election week.
SUBURBAN PROTESTS
This year, businesses have already sustained at least $1 billion in insured losses from looting and vandalism largely set off by the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May, according to one estimate cited by the Insurance Information Institute, an industry group.
It is on target to be the most costly period of civil unrest in history, likely surpassing damage during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles and many of the civil-rights protests of the late 1960s.
The situation in 2020 has drawn comparisons to protests in the 1960s, but Derek Hyra, an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University, said that recent unrest had been more geographically widespread, affecting a wider swath of businesses.
“Most of the rioting and burning in the 1960s happened within the geography of low-income Black spaces,” Hyra said. “In the 2020 unrest, more of it happened in downtown and affluent areas.
“It’s not just urban America,” he added. “The protests have been in the suburbs; they’ve been in rural areas.”
Protecting properties from damage is not a simple decision. Retailers can risk alienating their customers by putting up plywood, particularly if the anticipated unrest does not materialize.
“You are sending a message when you do that,” said Stephanie Martz, general counsel of the National Retail Federation. “You don’t want to necessarily engage in this kind of grim forecasting.”
Some larger national businesses are keeping their plans vague.
Walmart did not respond Monday to questions about preparations for Election Day.
Walmart last week removed all guns and ammunition from thousands of store displays, citing fears of “civil unrest” after some properties were ransacked when rioting broke out in Philadelphia after the police shooting of Walter Wallace, a Black man whose family said he was in the midst of a mental health crisis. The company later reversed its decision, saying that “incidents have remained geographically isolated.”
Target, with about 1,900 stores, said in a statement that “like many businesses, we’re taking precautionary steps to ensure safety at our stores, including giving our store leaders guidance on how to take care of their teams.”
A spokesman for CVS, which operates nearly 10,000 stores, said: “Our local leadership teams are empowered to take steps that they determine will best support the safety of our stores, employees and customers. This includes the option to board select store locations.”
Gap Inc., with more than 2,000 stores in North America, said it had “contingency plans set in place for any issues that may arise and will continue to monitor the situation carefully and closely next week.”
PROTECIVE MEASURES
Tom Buiocchi, who runs an online platform called ServiceChannel that connects retailers with local contractors in cities across the country, said more than 500 stores had filled out work orders to board up or take other protective measures ahead of the election.
He said he had discussions with a group of luxury retailers that were reluctant about being the first ones to take any visible precautions. “No one wants to be the only one boarding up in a community; it can be off brand,” Buiocchi said.
Some retailers have debated whether putting up boards would make them more of a target. Others are taking steps such as purchasing different screws for the plywood than the ones they used in June, hoping to thwart looters with screw guns. The costs of boarding up businesses can range from a few hundred dollars to $31,000 for large department stores with display windows.
For the stores that stay open through election night and the uncertain days that could follow, their workers could again be thrust into a volatile situation. Already, retail employees are faced with the potential for disputes in trying to ensure that customers wear masks to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Commercial security companies and contractors say they’ve been fielding roundthe-clock calls from business owners who are worried about protests and riots.
“All of the requests are the same: Board up everything before Election Day,” said Meher, a manager at Commercial Glass Door Repair in Washington who asked to be identified by his first name because he is not authorized to speak on behalf of the company. “If you go downtown, everything is boarded up, regardless of whether it’s a luxury store or not. It’s never been like this before.”
Shane Fernett, owner of a contracting business in Colorado, said he recently purchased a two-year supply of plywood and two-by-four planks at the request of fretful retailers.
He is taking his own precautions. He has removed the name of his business, Jack of All Trades, from his company trucks, and he is requiring that his technicians work in pairs this week for their safety.
“Our local lumber yard asked what’s going on, why such a big order,” Fernett said. “I said, we think all hell is going to break loose. That’s why we are stocking up. I hope we don’t need to use it.
“I am 50-plus years old, and I didn’t think I would live to see this,” Fernett said. “You read about this in third-world countries, not America.”
Information for this article was contributed by Abha Bhattarai and Hannah Denham of The Washington Post; by Michael Corkery and Sapna Maheshwari of The New York Times; by Lauren Zumbach of the Chicago Tribune; by Kriston Capps and Henry Goldman of Bloomberg News; and by staff members of The Associated Press.