Abercrombie & Fitch has found bedbugs in a Manhattan, NY store for a second time this week, this time at South Street Seaport, prompting the closure of that outlet days after closing its Epic Hollister store nearby, company officials said Friday.
The shirtless male greeters, for which the Hollister store is famous, have yet to return to their posts three days after bedbugs first forced the closure of the store, located in the trendy SoHo neighborhood.
A company spokesman said the bedbug problem has been “eliminated and the store will reopen Saturday morning at 10 a.m.”
The company will be temporarily closing its Abercrombie & Fitch South Street Seaport store to “deal with a similar problem,” according to the spokesman.
In a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Abercrombie chairman and CEO Michael S. Jeffries asked for “leadership and guidance” on how best to address the problem.
The Abercrombie & Fitch Fifth Avenue store has been tested and is bedbug-free, the spokesman said.
Bedbugs are small parasitic insects that feed on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded animals.
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