BOARDS DOWN, GUARD STILL UP
Chicago stores hit by looting are warily reopening. That doesn’t mean all the plywood is coming down.
Tess Porter knows customers might assume the boards covering the windows of her Englewood salon means it’s closed.
Tess Place Style Shop is open for business but Porter isn’t ready to take down the plywood.
It’s been about three months since people broke in and stole hair products, curling irons, clippers and dryers, just days before she had hoped to welcome her first customers after being closed for months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Porter cleaned up the damage, started replacing equipment and left the salon’s windows open. Then last month, looters struck again, vandalizing businesses in several neighborhoods. The salon wasn’t affected, but Porter put the boards back up, posted painted signs with the salon’s name and phone number and kept the door propped open to let people know she’s open.
While many businesses in neighborhoods affected by the civil unrest that followed George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police have reopened, not all are ready to lower their guard. Some are still working to repair the damage, especially those hit by a second round of looting and vandalism last month. Others fear the unrest isn’t over, especially given the violence that unfolded just over the Wisconsin border after the police shooting of Jacob Blake Aug. 23.
The boards can’t stay up forever, but business owners already struggling with slow sales during the pandemic say they don’t want to risk another blow.
“If they loot again, there’s no way I want to put another $40,000 to $50,000 into a business I’ve been in since 1984, starting over as if I opened yesterday,” Porter said. “I put some aside for a rainy day, but this is a storm. This is like Hurricane Katrina.”
Chambers of commerce in neighborhoods affected by the unrest say many businesses have reopened or plan to do so. T he extent of the damage and financial challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic mean the process hasn’t been easy, said Felicia Slaton-Young, executive director of the Greater Englewood Chamber of Commerce.
In many cases, crowds not only broke windows and stole merchandise but damaged store infrastructure, which takes longer to repair. Some businesses had insurance to help pay for repairs, but others dropped their coverage when the pandemic forced tough choices about which expenses they could pay, Slaton-Young said.
“What is the balance between making a center airtight versus making it part of the community? If it’s going to be part of the community, it’s going to open itself up to the community.” — Sandy Sigal, president and CEO of NewMark Merrill
The chamber’s foundation raised $850,000 and is distributing $5,000 to $20,000 grants to help businesses, including Porter’s, pay for repairs or support payroll. The Garfield Park Chamber of Commerce has given out $100,000, in $3,000 to $10,000 grants, said founder Siri Hibbler.
“We need those businesses. Entrepreneurs are the ones who are going to bring the economy back,” she said.
Even for major chains, reopening takes time. A Best Buy near the Lincoln Park neighborhood that closed after sustaining extensive damage during the unrest in late May did not reopen until Aug. 30.
In addition to breaking windows and stealing merchandise, crowds damaged walls, the floor and bathrooms, said general manager Igor Knezevic.
The store planned to reopen Aug. 11, but one day earlier it was one of several businesses hit by another round of looting. Best Buy had invested in stronger security at the front entrance, but the crowds found another way into the store.
“It’s an unfortunate part of the learning process,” he said.
No one was injured, community members came out to help clean up, and there has been a regular police presence around the store in the weeks since, Knezevic said.
Downtown, several stores that removed their boards after late May breakins sought to have them replaced as a precaution after the unrest Aug. 10, said Vicki Fichter, a dispatcher at Chicago Board Up Service. Some have kept the boards up while staying open.
Many businesses acknowledge there’s only so much measures like guards, cameras and gates can do to fend off crowds intent on breaking in.
Footwear and apparel retailer Dream Town’s security gates and doors didn’t keep looters from ransacking stores in West Garfield Park in late May.
Owner Anna Kim said she fled when she heard banging on the store’s rear metal door: People were trying to break the door down with a truck.
“We gave up,” she said. “We just let them loot it for a couple more days.”
Her son David Kim declined to estimate the damage caused but said people who broke in took everything — even cat food. Dream Town stores in Oak Park and Little Village also were damaged, he said.
Some Dream Town stores were able to reopen within three weeks, including one of two stores on the same block in West Garfield Park. Last month, that location was hit again and remains closed behind a metal gate. Two doors down, Dream Town’s larger store is open, though employees are restocking shelves in the back half of the store.
It’s the second time Dream Town has had to rebuild in West Garfield Park, where the store, then under a different name, burned during the chaos that followed the Chicago Bulls’ 1992 championship win.
The Kims, who also own the building, said they never questioned whether to reopen, even though they hear rumors looters will return.
“If I don’t come back, who’s going to rent that spot?” Anna Kim said.
She said she’s happy to see other stores reopening. A City Sports sandwiched between Dream Town’s stores appeared on a recent day to be preparing to reopen, with its metal gate raised enough to show people working inside.
Still, Dream Town’s Oak Park store remains boarded up and David Kim hired armed guards at the Little Village location, though he acknowledges there’s not much they could do if faced with a crowd.
“We’re hoping for the best but preparing for the worst,” he said. “Hopefully change does happen and we don’t have to experience anything like this again.”
At Stony Island Plaza in the South Deering neighborhood, where several stores were vandalized in late May, owner NewMark Merrill Cos. stationed traffic control devices like those used for highway construction after hearing about unrest Aug. 10 in case the center needed to close off entrances to keep crowds out.
Another shopping center the company owns, in Melrose
Park, temporarily closed that day. The precautions ended up not being needed, said Sandy Sigal, president and CEO of NewMark Merrill.
Stony Island Plaza installed more security cameras and some tenants added security gates, but Sigal said there’s a fine line between protecting shopping centers and making them feel like “armed encampments.”
“What is the balance between making a center airtight versus making it part of the community? If it’s going to be part of the community, it’s going to open itself up to the community,” he said.
Even with the pandemic and unrest, foot traffic at Stony Island Plaza is up 20% compared with last year, he said. A Jewel-Osco grocery store that had been “pretty well cleaned out” in late May reopened within a few days, and only Foot Locker and DTLR shoe stores remain closed, he said. A GNC vitamin and supplement store is one of hundreds closing after the chain filed for bankruptcy protection.
Reopening preparations are also underway at City Fashions, in the Lake Meadows neighborhood, which was ransacked in late May.
Insurance didn’t cover the $350,000 in merchandise inside at the time, nearly all of which was stolen, said Edward Kim, whose parents own the store.
City Fashions qualified for a $4,000 city grant for businesses affected by the looting and a $20,000 grant from the state for companies forced to close during the pandemic, but hasn’t received the funds due to an error on its application. A GoFundMe brought in far more assistance — about $214,000 — and helped the family decide to reopen at a different location in the same shopping center, Edward Kim said.
The store’s fuchsia walls are currently empty, but Kim, who took a year off from his job as a financial consultant to help his parents with the store, said they hope to be ready for customers later this month.
There are metal gates that can cover the windows and a better security camera system. Still, a second break-in at the Foot Locker that moved into City Fashions’ old location last month gave him pause.
“It’s making me contemplate the whole thing, just reopening in general. Was this the smartest choice?” he said.
Kim said it’s become his “personal battle with the looters and rioters.”
“My way of winning is reopening and staying open,” he said.