Family Owned Beauty Supply Store Looted & Burned
Donation protected
Hello, our names are Nona and Hinako. We are organizing this GoFundMe page to support the Korean family that lost their whole store amongst the looting in Chicago. We, along with the owners of this store, are huge supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement and the injustice that George Floyd faced. We understand the need to protest, and even the riots downtown. However we did not expect that the looting would go so far and that even small local businesses would be targeted. The family owns a beauty supply store run by father and son. The store was located on 79th and Damen in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood.
On Sunday morning, May 31st, the founding owner (father) opened the shop like a usual Sunday morning at 10am . Everything seemed normal until around 11am, when six men carrying crowbars threatened the owner to give them everything he had. He stood his ground, but being elderly, without a weapon or any security, the six men overtook him and threw him to the ground. They then ripped the two registers completely out of the counters, and proceeded to destroy several shelves and display cases while they left the owner bruised and in a state of shock. After being blatantly robbed and threatened, the owner was able to get himself together, close the shop, and call the police. The son then arrived after being called by his father of the terrible news. The two waited outside the store in the parking lot being told that the police would arrive. First 30 mins went by, then an hour, then 2 hours went by, and still no police officers came.
Because no police officials came after being called almost 2 hours ago, both father and son locked up the shop, and left their store to go to the police station to file a report. Upon arriving at the police station, they had to wait another hour just to report the incident. And while waiting at the police station, their security alarms went off as a crowd had gathered outside of their store trying to break in. In horror, The son showed police staff LIVE FOOTAGE of the store being broken into and looted. The police gave false promises of "we will be there, they are on their way". Trusting that they were in good hands, father and son left the police station and tried to go back to their store. But all the streets and roads leading to their store was blocked because a fire had erupted.
Little did they know, that the building on fire was their very own shop. The looters had broken in, stole all of their merchandise and then light the store up. Because the block leading to the shop was closed, they saw fit to just go home. It was once they arrived home that the police notified that their store had been burnt. Linked below is the CBS footage of the store burning. Although they have insurance, the insurance company has only given them 1/6 of what they lost. Not only did they lose over $350,000 worth of merchandise but they will not be able to reopen the shop. We hope you can all offer a helping hand and help a small business and family recover. If you cannot offer a monetary donation, please show your support and share this story!
CBS Video of Store Burning
On Sunday morning, May 31st, the founding owner (father) opened the shop like a usual Sunday morning at 10am . Everything seemed normal until around 11am, when six men carrying crowbars threatened the owner to give them everything he had. He stood his ground, but being elderly, without a weapon or any security, the six men overtook him and threw him to the ground. They then ripped the two registers completely out of the counters, and proceeded to destroy several shelves and display cases while they left the owner bruised and in a state of shock. After being blatantly robbed and threatened, the owner was able to get himself together, close the shop, and call the police. The son then arrived after being called by his father of the terrible news. The two waited outside the store in the parking lot being told that the police would arrive. First 30 mins went by, then an hour, then 2 hours went by, and still no police officers came.
Because no police officials came after being called almost 2 hours ago, both father and son locked up the shop, and left their store to go to the police station to file a report. Upon arriving at the police station, they had to wait another hour just to report the incident. And while waiting at the police station, their security alarms went off as a crowd had gathered outside of their store trying to break in. In horror, The son showed police staff LIVE FOOTAGE of the store being broken into and looted. The police gave false promises of "we will be there, they are on their way". Trusting that they were in good hands, father and son left the police station and tried to go back to their store. But all the streets and roads leading to their store was blocked because a fire had erupted.
Little did they know, that the building on fire was their very own shop. The looters had broken in, stole all of their merchandise and then light the store up. Because the block leading to the shop was closed, they saw fit to just go home. It was once they arrived home that the police notified that their store had been burnt. Linked below is the CBS footage of the store burning. Although they have insurance, the insurance company has only given them 1/6 of what they lost. Not only did they lose over $350,000 worth of merchandise but they will not be able to reopen the shop. We hope you can all offer a helping hand and help a small business and family recover. If you cannot offer a monetary donation, please show your support and share this story!
CBS Video of Store Burning
Fundraising team (2)
Nona .
Organizer
Morton Grove, IL
Hinako Mizuta
Team member
