Independent businesses are now caught in the fraught politics of looting, and owners have to weigh protecting their businesses with protecting their reputations. One store owner is even 'looting' his own store to show support.
- Business owner's response to looting has become increasingly politicized over the summer of 2020, as protests and riots sparked by instances of police brutality continue to roil.
- But when it comes to the consequences of looting, the reality couldn't be more different for small businesses and large national retailers.
- Many national retailers like Dollar Tree or Nordstrom have had locations looted during riots, but insurance and an abundance of capital soften any financial impact.
- "If I get hit too hard and I can't recover, I'm out of business. These big boxes, they're gonna be okay," WDB Marketing CEO Keeana Barber told Business Insider.
- Barber's company has sold signs designating black-owned businesses and support of Black Lives Matter to thousands of small businesses.
When President Donald Trump visited Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, the owner of Rodes Camera Shop wasn't interested.
Tom Gram's 109-year-old store had burned down during unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. He declined to meet with the president, who was looking to tour Kenosha's looted businesses. Gram told local news outlet TMJ4, "I think everything he does turns into a circus, and I just didn't want to be involved in it."
So Gram was shocked to see Trump next to his store on the news anyway — with someone else posing as the owner: his former boss, John Rode III. Gram had bought the business eight years prior from Rode, who still owns the property.
"I just appreciate President Trump coming here today; everybody here does. We're so thankful that we got the federal troops in to help because once they got here, things did calm down quite a bit," Rode said.
That was the scene depicted in official White House coverage of Trump's visit: small business owners devastated by property destruction in the wake of protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
But just across town, another kind of business owner sent a very different message: Bill Penzey, the owner of Penzey's Spices, announced he would "loot" his own store to show his support for the protests. Penzey said he would donate a day's worth of inventory from his Kenosha store to food banks and nonprofits over the next few weeks.
"Someone wrote to say that you would be singing a different tune if it was your store being looted," Penzey wrote in an email to customers. "I'm by no means perfect but seriously no, I wouldn't. Human life means everything; stuff, not so much."
As America's understanding of looting evolves, so does the way looting is used to drive political narratives. And how a business owner responds to looting has become not just a moral decision, but also a business decision — and one where the stakes grow exponentially the smaller a business is.
'I'm just trying to protect my business'
Police say looters are often career criminals using protests as a cover to burglarize. Protesters have often been vocal and physical about preventing looting, saying it dilutes their message. Still, looting has become widely perceived as being connected to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Meanwhile, vigilante activity by right-wing groups and individuals has been linked with "protecting" businesses. Kyle Rittenhouse claimed to have traveled to Wisconsin in order to defend businesses from rioters on August 25. The 17-year-old is now charged with shooting and killing two protesters that night.
As a result, a stance on looting is now seen as a stance on Black Lives Matter.
For big businesses, the calculus that comes in the wake of looting is relatively simple. These national retailers are able to absorb the costs through insurance and capital. Many have publicly supported Black Lives Matter in their corporate messaging without fear of rocking the boat. And few have addressed the impact of looting, beyond financial statements.
Two such companies include Urban Outfitters and Nordstrom. The clothing retailers both expressed support for Black Lives Matter shortly after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for around eight minutes on May 25.
Urban Outfitters said 55 of its stores throughout North America were hit with "varying degrees of damage" in instances of "civil unrest" during the spring and summer. Nordstrom saw 27 stores damaged in riots and looting incidents, although it said that it was even keeping certain affected stores open. Both Urban Outfitters and Nordstrom indicated in Securities and Exchange Commission filings that they did not expect significant "losses after insurance recoveries."
Meanwhile, Dollar Tree was one national chain that broke down a series of significant damages due to looting in its August quarterly report. The chain incurred a $9.8 million in uninsured markdown costs, $3.9 million in uninsured repairs for store damages, and $2.5 million in fixed asset disposals, all due to "civil unrest."
Despite the costs, the dollar store chain was lauded for a successful quarter.
For small business owners, the stakes are much higher. If they speak out, small business owners who are looted run the risk of becoming mouthpieces for the narrative that Black Lives Matter is a destructive movement. And if small business owners condemn looting or lament that they have been looted, they run the risk of being perceived as valuing property over lives.
Eric Chan, the owner of Jade Garden in Seattle, Washington, told Business Insider in June that after his restaurant was looted during protests — not by protesters, who were concentrated in another part of the city at the time Jade Garden was looted — he was criticized for participating in a visit from Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan to looted businesses in his neighborhood.
"I agree with what the movement is about, just not the violence and the looting," Chan said. "Business owners that come out and complain and say their s--- was destroyed are being labeled as racist because they're saying you care about your property more than the movement. That's not fair. I'm just trying to protect my business."
Some business owners take the opposite stance. Ruhan Islam, the owner of the Gandhi Mahal restaurant in Minneapolis, garnered attention on social media for how he reacted when his restaurant was burned down at the end of May.
"Let my building burn, justice needs to be served, put those officers in jail," Islam said, according to his daughter.
'If I get hit too hard and I can't recover'
Keeana Barber, the CEO of WDB Marketing in Chicago, Illinois, gained media attention in June after distributing "Black-owned business" signs to business owners in Black Chicago neighborhoods hit hard by property damage in the wake of unrest over George Floyd's murder.
Barber told Business Insider in a phone interview that most business owners understand the frustration of the protesters. But she said that doesn't diminish how devastating property damage can be for a small business owner.
"We're left to pick up the pieces and figure out how to survive. We don't have the political allies, we don't have the people in Washington that's going to make sure that we get some funding or money. As an entrepreneur, you have a dream, you push and you really give everything that you can," Barber said.
Barber also said that rather than being concerned about large corporations getting looted, people should turn their attention to supporting their local small businesses.
Barber said that she's seen more enthusiasm for her signs than she expected, both from Black business owners and from white ones looking to buy Black Lives Matter signs from a Black-owned print shop. Although she started by distributing just 200 free "Black-owned business" signs to Black business owners around Chicago, she's since sent over 2,000 signs to Black business owners in 10 states around the country. The signs are still free, although Barber asks recipients to pay for shipping.
Although 2020 has been a heavy year, Barber is optimistic about the potential for change in this moment. She says now more than ever before, she sees more people becoming cognizant of the problems that Black people face and actively working to solve them.
"For once people are figuring out it doesn't matter if it's just one transaction, if it's just one march that you show up to, if it's just one person that you reach out and support or something that you share to share this knowledge, everybody understands that they do have play a part in the solution."