Bed Bug-Plagued Abercrombie & Fitch May Open Thursday

The South Street Seaport Abercrombie & Fitch store that was closed on Friday because of bedbugs won't reopen until later this week.

The preppy teen retailer's spokesman Eric Cerny said the store is being rid of bedbugs and the company hopes to open it by Thursday.

This is the second NYC Abercrombie store to close because of bed bugs in the past week.   Abercrombie's surf-themed Hollister store in SoHo, which closed on Thursday due an infestation, reopened on Saturday. 

The New Albany, Ohio-based chain says its flagship Abercrombie store on Fifth Avenue, however, is bedbug-free.

Bedbug infestations in commercial buildings are usually handled privately and do not need to be reported to the city, the Department of Health says, because bedbugs “do not present a health risk or spread disease.”

Abercrombie, however, has requested guidance from city authorities on how to get rid of the pests.   The company wrote an open letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, saying, "We think it is a serious subject and look to you for leadership and guidance on how to best respond to this problem."

“Call an exterminator,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg responded at a press conference today.

The city's health department has offered guidance to the company—probably in more detail than the mayor—but says that Abercrombie is going to have to scratch their own backs on this one. 

“It is the responsibility of companies to proactively treat bedbug problems on their own,” the department told the Daily News.

The company said last week that it is still investigating the issue with its own testing and analysis, and that as a precaution, returned products will be quarantined and tested.  Cerny said today that there was no update on the process. 

The preppy clothing store’s stocks remain peppy: shares rose $1.17, or 3.8 percent, to $32.28. The stock has traded between $22.70 and $51.12 over the past year.

Tourists visiting NYC for the Fourth of July weekend didn’t seem bothered by Hollister’s bloodsucking fanbugs; after reopening on Saturday the store was crawling with customers.