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 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 U.S. cities.
As security experts warn that the U.S. 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.
Aon Plc, the world's largest insurance broker, told Reuters the majority of retailer clients it surveyed are considering boarding up stores because they are worried about looting around the election. Aon executive MaryAnne Burke said about 70% of these retailer clients did so during protests in May and June.
More than two dozen security consultants, insurers, contractors and store employees told Reuters that companies are installing reinforced glass, hiring security guards or retaining on-call teams that barricade and board up buildings.
Retailers are on edge after raiders earlier this year smashed windows, stole merchandise and, at times, set stores ablaze in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Portland and other U.S. cities - often under the cover of peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrations that were rekindled by the May 25 police killing of George Floyd, a Black man.
Foot Locker in its quarterly report on Aug. 21, said it racked up $18 million in costs from "recent social unrest." Looters target sneaker sellers like Foot Locker because their products are easy to carry away and turn into cash.
“Companies operating in the United States should anticipate the risk of social unrest and political violence.”
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