Looters Finish Off Businesses Crippled by COVID Lockdown

Along with big chain stores like Target, Walgreens and Macy’s, independent retailers in neighborhoods and downtown sections were targets of vandals and looters who struck as police mobilized to contain large protests over the killing of George
Floyd in Minneapolis.

Many businesses had been closed by state and local government orders as officials tried to contain the spread of COVID-19, leaving owners with little or no revenue since March. Now, already facing an uncertain future amid ongoing restrictions, owners must figure out how to rebuild or relocate their companies.

Over three nights, Ahmed Muhumud’s Minneapolis optician shop was vandalized, looted and burned, leaving Midtown Eye Care in ruins. The store was just getting back to business after having been shut since mid-March by lockdown restrictions.

“This has been a difficult couple of months, and now with the protesters and everything that followed — it’s very difficult,” Muhumud said.