Over the past week, there have been multiple events nationwide protesting the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. While the vast majority of people gathered and demonstrated peacefully even in the face of repeated acts of unprovoked policed brutality, in some cities the demonstrations involved acts of vandalism and store lootings.
Within the Los Angeles sneaker and streetwear space, multiple stores located along the city’s Melrose and Fairfax retail strips were heavily looted including Adidas, RSVP Gallery, Round Two, Flight Club and 5Art Gallery.
As they picked up the pieces in the aftermath of the looting, some of the Los Angeles store owners whose stores were hit tried to make sense of it all. Check out their responses below.
5ART Gallery
Located on Melrose Avenue, 5Art was stripped of multiple pieces of art including a large KAWS Companion sculpture. Under video showing the store being ransacked, the caption read, “What a sad day! We were so much against what happened to George Floyd. But this affected our employes and the artists that had nothing to do with this. Thanks to everyone who helped us today 🙏🏻 Please send over every footage you have.”
RIF
best believe ain’t no RIF LA without the support from the black community. A lot of us grew up, came up and broke bread together. That black support is a blessing man #14yearsinbusiness
— RIF LA (@Rifla) May 31, 2020
We’ve been hit in the past, we just never put it out there. Insurance gave us 20% of what we really loss. So if y’all keep doing this thinking insurance will cover everything. You’re wrong. Picture losing $1 million and insurance ends up giving you $200K after 6 months. https://t.co/MVwf5YeOX0
— RIF LA (@Rifla) May 31, 2020
Weighing in on Twitter, the account for sneaker store RIF with four locations in Los Angeles and San Francisco, wrote, “best believe ain’t no RIF LA without the support from the black community. A lot of us grew up, came up and broke bread together. That black support is a blessing man.”
On Instagram, the store added, “Our shop was affected in this battle for justice and solidarity, but we will pick up the pieces and continue to pray for everyone and for better days ahead. We stand by your pain, we hear your voice. We will continue to stand strong for our community. We love LA, our hometeam for the past 14 years. Thank you to all our customers for your continued support.”
Providing feedback on whether the store’s losses would be recouped by insurance, the RIF account noted, “We’ve been hit in the past, we just never put it out there. Insurance gave us 20% of what we really loss. So if y’all keep doing this thinking insurance will cover everything. You’re wrong. Picture losing $1 million and insurance ends up giving you $200K after 6 months.”
ROUND TWO
Under an image of a boarded up Round Two Hollywood store, store co-owner Sean Wotherspoon simply wrote, “Good morning LA.”
While Wotherspoon was at a loss for words, Off-White designer Virgil Abloh wrote in the comments, “This is fucked up. You see the passion blood sweat and tears Sean puts in for our culture. This disgusts me. To the kids that ransacked his store and RSVP DTLA, and all our stores in our scene just know, that product staring at you in your home/ apartment right now is tainted and a reminder of a person I hope you aren’t. We’re apart of a culture together. Is this what you want?? When you walk past him in the future please have the dignity to not look him in the eye, hang your head in shame…”
RSVP Gallery
On Instagram stories, RSVP Gallery owner Don Crawley wrote, “The one principle I admire i the unity of the young people. The way all those young black, white, latino, asian…kids were united looting and rioting my store! I’m not sure what the cause is but they were clearly revolting the system.”
Crawley added in a second post, “Thoughts…Maybe those young people who scientifically may not even have a fully developed brain yet and have not acquired wisdom and discernment think they are doing the right thing by rising their lives stealing from me??? If they are sincere and this is the case I forgive and brings me joy if they are now truely happy.”
He finished out by writing “More thoughts…I post material things that influence these undeveloped brains to covet and that is wrong…I need to post content that promotes love, emphathy, wisdom, understanding, honor respect…”
The Hundreds
Eh, it'll be fine. it's just a store. Black Lives are precious, however. Protect Black Lives. https://t.co/tmCxVfyRzv
— Bobby Hundreds (@bobbyhundreds) May 31, 2020
While it’s not clear if The Hundreds store on North Fairfax in Los Angeles sustained damage, when a fan of the brand expressed concern, owner Bobby Hundreds (real name Bobby Kim) wrote, “Eh, it’ll be fine. it’s just a store. Black Lives are precious, however. Protect Black Lives.”
