Posted by Fred Speer on Fri, Jul 09, 2010 @ 11:53 AM
Source: http://gawker.com
If you've ever walked down Broadway just south of Houston 
Street, you know the Hollister. There are always shirtless lifeguard-type boys outside, urging you in? It's quite effective! Not so effective? Bedbugs, which are what the store is currently battling.
The Wall Street Journal tells us (gotta pay for that article) and Gothamist confirms that the downtown branch of the teen-centric Abercrombie & Fitch spin-off (it's the Joey to Abercrombie's Friends) has had an infestation for some time, and that the store is not currently closed due to construction, as it had at one point been telling disappointed shoppers. Gothamist paints a more grim picture than the Hollister spokesman quoted in the WSJ. The site spoke to an anonymous employee who told them this gross tale:
On Tuesday the 29th, an employee found that she had been bitten, and also found a live bedbug and an exoskeleton on her borrowed Hollister outfit. All of the employees were forced to continue working even though more and more bugs were being discovered.
Multiple employees were covered in bites. Hollister was more concerned about losing money than the health and safety of their hundreds of employees and thousands of customers. If they were concerned in the least, the store would have been shut down the moment the first bugs were discovered. Just today they closed the store down, but who knows how many employees and customers were exposed to the outbreak in the past three weeks, only jeopardizing the rest if the stores in the area as bedbugs spread like wildfire.
Guhhh. The employee then goes on to point out how dark the store is, which means things were able to creep and crawl and burrow and bite unnoticed for god knows how long.
Apparently they've now posted shirtless models outside (run! go see 'em!) to tell folks to turn back, making many would-be eager shoppers very sad. The WSJ spoke to some of these poor people:
On Wednesday, Sylvia Mak of Brooklyn saw the sign saying the store was closed and was confused.
She and her two daughters, ages 12 and 13, had planned a shopping spree. They'd wanted to spend $70, or more, on shirts.
"We're very disappointed," said Ms. Mak of the closing. Actually, lady? I think those bedbugs just did you a favor.
[Image via Flickr]
Send an email to Richard Lawson, the author of this post, at richardl@gawker.com.
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Posted by Fred Speer on Thu, Nov 19, 2009 @ 05:37 PM
Bedbugs make a comeback
Posted:
Nov 19, 2009 1:29 PM PST
Chris Proffitt/Eyewitness News
Indianapolis - The resurgence of an old pest is causing concern in 
Indiana and across the nation. The bedbug is back big time, and they can be found everywhere, including five star hotels and your own mattress.
Eyewitness News found an Indianapolis home infested with a problem that's become so severe that some are calling it not far from epidemic.
"They're here. They're here to stay. They're going to be transferred anywhere humans are," said Elia Levin, pest control company owner.
They are bedbugs. They are about the size of an apple seed and their populations are exploding across the country. Hiding in mattresses, bed sheets, couches and even luggage, they have a sole purpose.
"Ecologically, their role in life is that they are predators on mammals and blood feeders," said Prof. Tom Turpin, Purdue University etomologist.
Their prey includes humans, sleeping soundly while the bedbug, travelling through walls and electrical outlets, finds its prey and feeds, gorging on human blood and often leaving telltale bite marks on their victims.
The old saying, "sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite" had real meaning before World War Two. The insect was popularized in "Mean Old Bedbug Blues," a 1927 jazz recording by Bessie Smith.
After the war, insecticides came alone and wiped out the bedbug in North America until international travel reintroduced the population, now up by some estimates as much as 500 percent.
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Posted by Fred Speer on Thu, Oct 22, 2009 @ 11:22 AM
After a recent visit from an exterminator declaring they were indeed infested with bed bugs the Wilmington Fire Station threw out mattresses, upholstered furniture and carpets, anything that might be housing the bed bugs. And these little blood suckers cost more then a few drops of blood. The total cost to the fire station was over $5000 between the loss of the furniture and the pest controller's bill of $800+.
ABC reported on the matter first. Also citing a CDC saying bedbugs are up by 500% over the last few years. Considering that bed bugs had been virtually eradicated from the US over 20 years ago, that number doesn't do the Bed Bug epidemic justice.
Fortunately doctors still have not found any serious health risks associated with bedbugs or the spread of disease through bedbugs.
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