Thaindian News

July 2, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): Hollister’s flagship store, “Epic”, sprawling over 40,000 square foot in Soho, Manhattan came to a standstill yesterday to eliminate the reportedly bedbug infestation. A notice board outside says that the store is closed for “maintenance”. A Hollister spokesperson lifted the lid on “bedbug Hollister”. It is quite impossible to keep the infestation a secret when scantily clad models, hired by the store, stand around with the bedbug bites over their bodies.

Gripped by the fear of losing job at the store especially when the job market is in doldrums, the Hollister spokesperson revealed the fact on a condition of anonymity.

The situation inside had turned worse when an employee was bitten by a bedbug and she discovered a shell on her Hollister outfit, to her utter amazement. The problem was reported to the management some three weeks ago but remained unnoticed until it loomed large. Rather, the management kept the employees working by force despite the infestation.

It seems that Hollister was least concerned about the health of their employees and customers. If the management had the least concern, they would have shut down the store the day, the first bug was discovered. There is no account of how many staffs and visitors have suffered the bite in the past three weeks. The “bed bug Hollister” incident has left the owners of other stores in the area at no peace since bedbugs spread in no time at all.

No one knows when the Hollister store, a breeding ground for bedbugs in Soho, would see the light of the day again.