INDIANAPOLIS — Downtown Indianapolis business owners are focused on reopening following weekend looting that left their businesses damaged. For some, it may take a while.
Many businesses remain boarded up as of Wednesday, following the weekend violence that was a response to the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd.
But there are messages of hope downtown, murals have been painted on some of the boarded up windows—the message, "we are in this together," and Black lives matter."
Doug Stephens owns Downtown Comics on Market Street near Monument Circle. He watched on the news Saturday as windows to his store were broken out. He expects the plywood to stay up for several weeks over concern that looters could strike again. That's why he's called on local artists and others to cover the wood with artwork.
"We've got everything destroyed down here," said Stephens. "We all look around and go we don't even remember the pandemic after all of this. We downtown businesses need you the people of Indianapolis to come and support us because we've been hurt. We need help."
At Jack's Donuts, the owner put his open sign back up Wednesday. The store was one of the first targeted during Friday's protests, with windows broken.
"We have to open," said owner Chris Karnavas. "We have no choice but to open. We've got to keep the business going we've got to keep the city going."
Meanwhile, as a show of support, the owner of Hero House Comics in Fountain Square donated a special comic book to Downtown Comics, a gesture that brought tears to the owner's eyes.
If you are interested in helping downtown business with their recovery, click on this link:
https://www.downtownindy.org/blog/support-downtown-indys-recovery/
And for business owners who need more information about insurance questions, some of that is provided by the Insurance Information Institute. Click on this link. https://www.iii.org/insuranceindustryblog/faq-riots-and-business-insurance/
