'Close down everything': Downtown businesses vandalized with messages to stay closed

Businesses in downtown Edmonton were vandalized with messages asking them to stay closed.

Edmonton — Two downtown Edmonton businesses were found vandalized on Friday with messages telling the stores to remain closed.

Phrases such as “no bars”, “no clubs”, and “close down everything”, were written on the glass windows in black marker.

The graffiti could be seen on Khrome Nail Bar and the neighbouring Ramen Misoya Edmonton on 104 Street. Lara Kowalchuk, the manager at Krome Nail Bar, spoke to CTV Edmonton about the incident.

“It’s just another little set back that we’ve had to deal with with COVID, and obviously not everybody is happy that local businesses in Edmonton are opening and thats a little bit unfortunate because we do our best and we work very, very hard.”

Kowalchuk said the vandalism was there when they opened the store at 10 a.m. on Friday. She had these words to say to the perpetrators.

“Regardless of your feelings towards COVID-19 if we could keep vandalizing out of it, it’s just extra steps for us moving forward.”

Krome Nail Bar did report the incident to the police and were awaiting officers at the time of the interview.