SAN ANTONIO — Businesses nationwide, including in downtown San Antonio, are bracing for civil unrest following the contentious presidential election that remains undetermined as of Wednesday night.
“I’ve never seen this country so divided,” said Lovelia Deuley, who has been working at the Alamo Antique Mall for two decades.
She noted it’s not very often the business had to board up in these circumstances. The last time was after the destructive protests that unfolded in response to the police killing of a Black man in Minnesota.
“It’s a lot of work whenever they break a window. It has happened from time to time for no particular reason; people getting into a fight or something. It hasn’t happened in a long time,” Deuley said.
The Alamo Antique Mall has been boarded up since Sunday.
It’s a heated political climate, which Deuley knows is causing people from both sides of the aisle to act out.
“When you see the news and you see this in other parts of the country or cities or whatever and what they’re capable of doing, it’s scary,” Deuley said.
Despite the boarded-up windows, she said she believes the financial impact will be minimal.
“That’s why we had an artist paint the boards. We tell our customers we’re open and a lot of people call and find out if we’re open,” Deuley said.
As an entire nation waits to see who becomes elected president, Deuley and her business neighbors are hoping commerce stays afloat no matter what happens in the end.
“Hopefully everything works out well for us and everybody else and the businesses and our country really so let’s be all peaceful and go forward,” she said.
The plan is to stay boarded up for at least a few weeks, even after a victor is declared in the presidential race.