Businesses in Champaign were damaged during recent riots. | Stock Photo
Businesses in Champaign were damaged during recent riots. | Stock Photo
Champaign-based stores damaged in rioting and looting during the May 30 weekend in the wake of George Floyd's killing by a Minneapolis police officer, have called for glass replacement companies to repair shattered window panes.
“I think people are a little nervous right now,” Bacon & Van Buskirk Glass Co. Commercial Service Manager Shawn Slade told the News-Gazette for its June 3 report.
How soon some businesses that were damaged and looted on May 31 will reopen depends on the speed they have shattered glass windows and doors replaced.
Calls from looted stores started coming in at Champaign’s Bacon & Van Buskirk on May 31, and those requests were still occurring on Tuesday, owner Rod Van Buskirk told the News-Gazette.
“We have two locations, in Champaign and Springfield, and both are busy. ... We’ve also been getting calls from Decatur and Danville,” he said.
Until new glass arrives, area businesses damaged in the rioting have been boarded up.
Among the glass service orders in Champaign were for retailers including Premier Sound & Design, Flora Gems, Mosser’s Shoes and Gordmans, the News-Gazette reported
Andy Kurtz, the owner of Premier Sound, said he planned to keep his store boarded through the June 6 weekend, but has reopened for business. He told the News-Gazette looters carried out approximately 18 TVs, and 150 to 170 cellphones.
“They took our safe that was bolted to the ground,” he told the News-Gazette. “They took anything that they could carry.”
Kurtz said the rioting and vandalism have him shaken and criticized authorities for their lack of a stronger response.
“I don’t want to blame anybody, but the leadership in this town is pretty weak,” he told the News-Gazette.
Kurtz said he has insurance coverage, but some small businesses don’t have that benefit for the damages.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the smaller businesses, the building owners and proprietors of those businesses, simply have to take a loss and pay the cost of the board-up and the glass replacement,” he told the News-Gazette.
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