The above video features an AP news report about how the Niketown store in chic SoHo New York has become infested with bedbugs. Just like a lot of other places in New York. But rather than try to duck the issue, the store let everyone exactly why it is closed, simply by posting a note on the door.
The note reads as follows: “Nike has proactively closed 21 Mercer because of a discovery of bedbugs at the store. Our primary concern is the well being of our consumers and sales associates. We are taking all proper steps to eradicate the problem and we expect the store to reopen shortly. We apologize for any inconvenience and for more information please call 1-888-224-6453.”
According to New York magazine’s Amy Odell, this openness stands in stark contrast to the way other retailers have handled the same issue.
Now this is the proper, good way to handle a bedbug attack on a retail establishment. Unlike Abercrombie and Hollister, who never used signage to inform shoppers of their bedbug problems, and just thrust the half-naked people back into the doorway as soon as they could as though to flaunt their bite-free flesh. Of course Nike’s sign still fails to answer the Big Questions here, such as where their bugs came from. If the vermin are holding court in a Nike warehouse somewhere, that would be a terrifying prospect.
Good on, Nike. But … hmmm … terrifying indeed.
I am actually currently in the market for a new pair of basketball sneakers, too. Maybe I’ll wait another month — just in case it was the source of bedbugs that Mars Blackmon was talking about when he told Michael Jordan that “it’s GOTTA be the shoes.”
