NYC's SoHo Neighborhood Designer Shops Boarded Up ... Ghost Town Vibes Month Into Pandemic
It's been a while -- for real, how long's it been? -- but the eerie scene of silent NYC streets is still hard to get used to ... particularly the boarded-up stores at one of its most popular shopping spots.
Check it out ... a month into the coronavirus pandemic, and the once-thriving designer and luxury boutiques of SoHo are all still shuttered.
The Louis Vuitton and Polo Ralph Lauren shops chose to go with a more branded look for their lockdowns -- with inspirational quotes to boot -- but the end result is the same as Jimmy Choo, Dior and Chanel ... closed for business, and hopefully protected from theft.
Of course, many of these stores went dark in mid-March, when pandemic panic was in full swing and the City ordered non-essential businesses to close.
Shop owners were initially encouraged to keep their lights on or hire additional security to protect valuables instead of boarding up -- to maintain a semblance of normalcy -- but stay-at-home orders quickly followed ... so they battened down the hatches.
As we told you ... law enforcement in NYC was concerned the new ghost town environment would result in break-ins and burglaries, particularly in the night hours, but so far it seems the boards have done their job.
It's a very similar situation on the West Coast, where several Rodeo Drive shops have moved their inventory to keep it all safe ... until the rich and famous are able to get out there and buy it again.
