As the news of the winner of the 2020 presidential election  New York and other cities board up business fronts. The cities are preparing for political unrest and riots upon the end of the election.

According to The New York Post, Soho had previously put up plywood in storefronts during the quarantine shut down back in April. Many storefronts still haven’t recovered from looting during the Black Lives Matter riots and plan to stay closed during the election.

High-end stores like Gucci, Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Bloomingdales have sealed windows with plywood and chained up doors. Although most designer stores are closing, many small stores like coffee shops and boutiques have begun to prepare as well.

The NYPD did not require stores to close and have left it up to store owners whether they want to board up or not.

According to Curbed, an owner of an art gallery has decided to prepare, but he is not using plywood to board up the windows. He feels that by putting up plywood he is telling looters that they are hiding something. He plans to remove all merchandise from the store floor. He believes that there won’t be a significant amount of looting like there was during the BLM riots.

An owner of a café in Soho had previously boarded up the windows after the riots during the summer and never took the wood down. He says that the looters had broken into his café to steal the delivery bikes from inside. They plan to finally take down the wood after the election is completely over. He believes that if Trump wins, the riots in New York City are going to be much worse than if Biden wins.

According to ABC, Soho is expected to get the worse side of the violence after the election. Many owners in Soho are saddened by the quiet streets. Soho storefronts were hit hard during the summer and are still recovering.