Bed bugs are the kiss of death (or at least the kiss of lengthy and expensive cleanings) in this town, so when the internet starts crying the B-word the rumors enough can be dangerous. On January 11th, K.S. wrote on the Atlantic Center Target's Yelp page, "I heard a rumor that the towel section got infested with bed bugs." By the 16th @Tay_BeKnowin wrote on Twitter, "Eeeeew Target got bed bugs & somebody got bit lol.its not funny doh." And yesterday we got an email from a woman who was told by a Target cashier not to purchase a towel. Chika Moses writes:
I was at the check out counter with my purchases, some time between 6 to 7 p.m. [on January 16th], and just before the cashier started scanning my items, she motioned for me to lean in closer. Then she whispered that I shouldn't buy the bath towel because the home department just had to deal with bed bug problems. I wigged, thanked her for giving me a heads up and offered to put the towel in one of those vacant baskets under the counter, but she told me to leave it with her. I don't know if she was mistaken, but saying there are bedbugs in the home department of a such a huge store would be a weird thing to be mistaken about, right? Either way, I wasn't about to take the chance of bringing bedbugs home with me, no matter how cute the bath towel.
However, a tweet and an email do not a scandal make, so we decided to head into possibly infested territory to see for ourselves. Our quick search of the Target's towel section revealed no evidence of bed bugs, and four different employees on the floor (when asked by a "nervous customer" about possible bed bugs) said they had never had any bug issues. A woman at the store's customer service desk and the store's management said they had never had any complaints, and an employee at Target neighbor Mandee's said mall management would have warned the whole complex and shut down the store immediately if there were a problem. There are also no reports of bed bugs at their address on Bed Bug Registry. If history has taught us anything it that it doesn't take much of a bed bug scare to shut the doors, so this rumor's legs are getting weaker by the minute. Moses told us, "It'd be sucky if the one clerk who warned me about the bug problem was mistaken."
So just how does a store deal with rumors like this? Target corporate PR says they are looking into the matter for us, and Atlantic Center owners Forest City said they had "not heard anything about this." However, Target has gracefully dealt with similar claims in the past. In September rumors spread about bed bugs at the The Christmas Tree Shops store in Charleston, Staten Island. Target spokeswoman Jenna Reck told the Staten Island Advance, "At this store, there is not an issue. Because of the increased awareness of bedbug activity, Target is proactively and frequently checking our New York area stores to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our guests and team members."
No matter where you shop, in this age of bed bug hysteria it's always a good idea to wash any clothes or linens you buy in hot water and dry them on the hottest setting as soon as you get home. That should be easier than going towel-less because of a possibly misinformed employee.
