CHICAGO — Downtown business owners still struggling during the coronavirus pandemic were scrambling to board up broken windows and take stock of damage after a wave of vandalism and looting early Monday morning.
For some, it was the second time this summer, following an earlier wave of looting that took place during the unrest that followed George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police in May.
Jewelry and gift shop Crosell & Co. had reopened less than a week ago, then looters struck the store two blocks west of Michigan Avenue again Monday morning.
City officials “have to get ahold of the city again,” said owner Dianne Crosell, standing in front of her shop’s smashed double-paned glass door Monday morning. “I feel like we are under attack and under siege.”
Shards of glass littered the sidewalk, and the sound of hammering as nearby businesses were boarded up echoed off the buildings. The damage wasn’t as extensive as it was in late May, when looters broke in through a window and took most of her inventory.
Still, it’s hard to rebuild again, Crosell said.
After the pandemic shutdown, her store was open for only about a week before the looting in May forced her to close again. Even if she was open, her customers, many of whom are tourists, aren’t downtown shopping as much because of the pandemic, she said.
“If this keeps happening, why is anyone going to stay?” she said. “They’re ruining the city of Chicago.”
All down the Magnificent Mile, broken glass littered the sidewalk and people stopped to take pictures of the damage.
A crew of workers were cleaning up Water Tower Place just before 11 a.m. Macy’s windows were smashed, and a MAC makeup counter had been pilfered. A broken bottle of foundation was smeared on the floor, and lip glosses and makeup brushes lay scattered.
Hardly any merchandise remained on the shelves at Pandora. Empty shoeboxes were scattered on the floor. Men in masks worked to board up the windows outside, as workers inside cleaned items and broken glass off the ground.
The damage extended to other neighborhoods. In the Gold Coast, high-end retailers that line Rush Street were being boarded up Monday. At Dior, Versace and Giorgio Armani, windows that weren’t boarded up were shattered. Northwestern Memorial Hospital rescheduled some patient appointments as a precaution, according to a hospital statement.
‘The sad thing is, we’re getting used to this’
Bars and restaurants in the River North and Near North neighborhoods saw break-ins too. At both Portillo’s and Jojo’s Milk Bar, cleaning crews fled shortly before crowds broke in.
“They just shattered everything,” said Robbie Schloss, owner of Jojo’s Shake Bar, standing in the sidewalk in front of his store. “They started by hopping the bar and stealing booze.”
The restaurant was set to reopen just after noon, only an hour later than normal. Jojo’s had plywood ready to go from the unrest in late May. It was not broken into then, but had to shut down for safety.
“The sad thing is, we’re getting used to this, so we have protocol,” he said.
Portillo’s planned to remain closed Monday, though employees scheduled to work would still be paid, said spokeswoman Sara Wirth.
Binny’s Beverage Depot employees spent Monday morning cleaning up heavily damaged stores, a little more than two months after the stores were damaged during the unrest that followed Floyd’s death.
“We’re getting a little too comfortable with the rapid response to incidents like this,” Binny’s Vice President Bradley Stein said from the store near Clybourn Avenue that was strewn with broken glass, cigars and other debris. “This is not something we want to become proficient in.”
The previous break-in created close to $1 million in property damage and theft, Stein estimated. He said it was too early to know the extent of Monday’s looting, but extensive damage included shattered glass inside and outside the store, and included the rare and collectible room, where bottles valued as high as $15,000 are stored.
“It kind of took us by surprise,” Stein said. “It was very targeted. They definitely knew what they wanted. We’re making the assumption these guys had been here before. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same crew from the first time.”
The 50,000-square-foot store near Clybourn is one of the largest and highest-grossing among the family-owned company’s 42 stores, all in Illinois. Binny’s stores in the South Loop and River North also were damaged, Stein said.
Apple, Best Buy and Ulta Beauty stores were among several other businesses on and around Clybourn that were damaged. Ulta stores on Michigan Avenue and in the South Loop and Wicker Park were also hit, and all Chicago-area locations closed Monday as the company assessed the damage, spokeswoman Eileen Ziesemer said.
Insurance likely to cover claims
Insurance should cover the damage caused by the looting as well as stolen merchandise. Virtually all business owners and commercial property policies cover riots, civil commotion and vandalism, according to the Insurance Information Institute, an industry association.
Businesses that have business interruption insurance should also be able to recover lost income resulting from the inability to operate, though only about 40% of businesses have that coverage, according to the association. Unlike the big court battles brewing over coverage of income losses due to COVID-19, insurers are unlikely to reject claims related to looting as long as it results from physical damage to property.
The civil unrest that erupted earlier this summer is estimated to have caused $500 million to $900 million in insured losses, according to the association, and is on track to be one of the costliest events of civil disorder in years. By comparison, the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles caused $775 million in insured losses, or $1.4 billion in today’s dollars.
Still, insurance is not a panacea for affected businesses. Many small businesses don’t have insurance, or high deductibles or inadequate coverage may prevent relief.
Even if insurance covers damage from looting, many businesses are already reeling from the impact of the pandemic, especially in the Loop, where shuttered offices deprived stores of their usual daytime customers.
‘It’s definitely a setback’
Damage on State Street and Wabash Avenue Monday morning didn’t appear to be as extensive as what the area sustained in late May, when about 50 businesses had storefront windows smashed, said Michael Edwards, president and CEO of the Chicago Loop Alliance.
CBD Kratom and the neighboring Mrs. Fields cookies had broken windows, and across the street at Macy’s Chicago flagship, which was also looted earlier this summer, boards covered the doors.
Block 37, Foot Locker, Nando’s Peri-Peri, Staples, Target and Wedding Bands also sustained damage, according to Chicago Loop Alliance.
The two waves of property damage have been an extra blow, Edwards said. The first came as restaurants and nonessential retail shops were preparing to reopen to customers. Now, the vandalism and restrictions on evening access to the downtown could further delay officegoers’ return to the downtown.
“It’s definitely a setback. It just puts businesses, property owners, and shoppers on edge,” Edwards said.
Pedestrian activity in the Loop is still down about 70% compared with the same period last year as many people continue working from home, Edwards said.
“We really thought we had turned the corner, and we were seeing people coming back to offices again,” said Kevin Purcell, president of leasing and management services at MB Real Estate. His firm manages 20 million square feet of commercial buildings in downtown Chicago.
If workers continue to stay away, “more of these retailers will suffer,” he said.
Many of the hardest-hit stores have been large national chains, but property owners and managers worry that repeated break-ins will cause retailers of all types to rethink their presence downtown, Purcell said.
Farzin Parang, executive director of BOMA/Chicago, an association of 240 downtown buildings, on the other hand, said it’s too soon to say whether Monday morning’s incidents will have a significant impact on efforts to revive the downtown economy from the coronavirus pandemic.
“These have been unpredictable, sporadic events,” Parang said. “It’s hard to say whether that impacts people’s behaviors long term.”
(Chicago Tribune’s Javonte Anderson and Lisa Schencker contributed.)
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