If anyone has watched the news lately, you would know that your favorite stores are being invaded—no not by aliens or pod people but the little critters –bedbugs. News articles from the New York Times to Crain’s have noted the nasty attack of bedbugs in Manhattan—great like roaches, water bugs and rats aren’t enough to deal with—we now have to check retail giants such as Victoria secret (closed one Mid-town store for a few hours), Abercrombie and Fitch (Soho) and Buy Buy Baby (Chelsea), where cases of infestation has occurred. Other affected Manhattan stores include: Bed, Bath & Beyond (Chelsea). Talk about icky, can you image one of those bugs latching onto the underwear of your favorite demi bra or cheekies at Vicky’s.

So what are they going to do about it! It seems not much has changed when dealing with pests, other than exterminators, bed-sniffing dogs (yes they have those) and warnings posted in some city stores. It is estimated that it takes about $5,000 to fumigate a 5,000 sq/ft office, which means some retail spaces that average 20,000-50,000 square feet well bechief lots of dough to take care of this pesky problem.

The city tracked more than 31,700 bedbug-related incidents through recent 311 calls during the year ending June 30. It seems these little suckers love the over 90 degree temps we’ve had recently. With the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene involved, retailers are feeling the pressure. What about the apparel? As the 40,000 square foot retailer, Hollister discovered (Soho, flagship store) since they may have to dump an estimated $1 million in apparel–yikes, now that’s some costly bugs. Although, they don’t carry any diseases, they can bite up to 10 times, causing severe, itchy red welts.

Personally, I will hold off from shopping in these stores until winter sets in and it’s nice and cold outside.

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