Call it the old one-two: bed bugs have struck Nike again. Last Friday the little critters forced a four-day closing of the company's massive 95,000-square-foot Niketown store on 57th Street. And now shortly after reopening, another location has been hit—this time at 21 Mercer Street in Soho.
According to the AP, Soho's Nike store closed yesterday after bedbugs were discovered; a phone message meanwhile announced that the store should reopen shortly. Obviously this prompts the question of whether or not the bugs are coming from the same source, such as a distribution site or warehouse, though it should be noted that the pests are undoubtedly becoming a major pandemic—at this stage, it may be too late to zero in on a single origin as bed bugs have struck a slew of sites these past few months, from the offices of Elle magazine to the Empire State building, to Victoria's Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch.
Playing the better-be-safe-than-sorry card, many businesses and companies are stepping up their preventative measures. Condé Nast, for example, recently announced that bed bug-sniffing dogs will patrol the offices at night.
