During Sunday’s protests in New York city, luxury stores were ransacked, and Leica Store SoHo was among them. The store had its windows smashed and a lot of gear was stolen. According to witnesses, this looting could have been organized, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the protests that have been happening across the US.
The store owner, Elliott Kurland, has been repairing and selling Leica gear in this store for seven years. “I was going to come here about 2, 3 o’clock in the morning,” Kurland told CBS2. “My brother said, ‘Don’t go. You’ll get killed.’”
The next day, Kurland’s neighbors came in with boxes of gear that they’d manage to save. Christiane Lemieux is one of them, and she lives across the street of Leica SoHo. Together with her family, she brought some of the salvaged gear back to Kurland. Speaking to CBS2, she said that she sympathized with demonstrators. “They have a right to march and to protest,” she said, but noted that this didn’t have anything to do with peaceful protests from the night before. “Five cars came up. Everybody got out. They had no license plates on the front of their cars. They hit every store in our neighborhood. They got in their cars and drove off,” Lemieux told CBS2.
She added that she understands people want to “take things out on corporations.” She added, however: “This is a man. This isn’t a corporation.”
The damage is still being assessed and there is still no exact data on which gear was stolen. However, if you notice any suspicious listings for Leica cameras and lenses, make sure to contact the authorities.
[via Leica Rumors, CBS2 New York]
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