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Apple’s Fifth Avenue store has been having bed bug problems

Apple’s Fifth Avenue store has been having bed bug problems

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Employees and shoppers have been allowed into the store without any warnings

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Photo by Bryan Thomas/Getty Images

Apple’s temporary store on Fifth Avenue has been dealing with bed bugs for several weeks, according to a report by the New York Post. Despite the infestation, employees and shoppers have been allowed into the store without any warnings.

The first bed bug was spotted overnight at the 24-hour store about three to four weeks ago, on a table on the second floor. The table was cordoned off while business carried on as usual, leaving the bed bug to potentially make its way to an unwitting customer, an employee told the NY Post. The photos below allegedly show employee lockers of the Fifth Avenue Apple store, as spotted by Gizmodo.

“It was just mayhem,” an employee told The Post. “There was a mass exodus… employees were freaking out they felt really unsafe and management kept giving them the runaround.”

Bed bugs were also found in the staff locker room, and employees were told to put their items in plastic bags while a bed bug sniffing beagle came to inspect the store. The beagle was “activated” by two lockers, and an exterminator was called in to spray the area. Employees were expected to keep coming into work; even when the store closed for six hours overnight last week, allegedly to deal with a water leak, employees weren’t given notice not to come in.

The bed bugs have reportedly been found as recently as last Friday in a manager’s office, but staff were told by management over the weekend that the issue had been resolved. However, bed bugs are notoriously difficult to get rid of, especially in New York, so you’re probably better off avoiding that particular Apple Store for a while.

The store is a temporary placeholder while Apple works on renovating its Fifth Avenue store. The iconic glass cube store is slated to reopen later this year. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment, and will update if we hear back.