Bedbugs or No Bedbugs, Crowds Still Line Up for Abercrombie

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Tourists obviously don't listen when they turn on their hotel room TVs at night to the evening news, because we've noticed that the local stations still haven't gotten tired of the Hollister Soho/Abercrombie & Fitch South Street Seaport bed bug infestation story from July 4th weekend. And despite "in-depth" reports on how to check for bedbugs, rid your home of bedbugs, and otherwise avoid breeding grounds for them like the aforementioned stores, visitors continue to line up for A&F and Hollister.

This photo we took yesterday evening, as the line to enter the flagship A&F on Fifth Avenue swelled to what could be its longest thus far this summer. We hope, for these shoppers' sake, that Abercrombie pinky swears that their flagship doesn't have a similar bedbug problem as South Street Seaport, with thousands more daily visitors.
· How Scared Should You Be About the Hollister Bedbug Infestation? [Racked NY]
· More Bedbugs Hit Abercrombie & Fitch as Hollister Reopens [Racked NY]
· Bad Case of Bedbugs Closes Hollister Soho [Racked NY]