Bed bugs are not confined to homes and hotels. They can also be a scourge in public places like clothing stores.

Recently reports have been circulating that the Urban Outfitters in New York City is infested with bed bugs.  Urban Outfitters claims they are addressing the problem but some insiders claim otherwise.

Other New York City clothing stores have also dealt with bed bugs, including Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, Juicy Couture, and Hollister.

This is a huge problem for shoppers in infested stores. Bed bugs are notorious for hitchhiking and can easily tag along back home with a clothing purchase and then spread into the shopper’s home, becoming a full blown infestation.

If you are at all concerned that the store you are shopping in has bed bugs, we recommend immediately heat treating your purchases upon returning home.  Heat is the most effective way to get rid of bed bugs.

Heat treatment can be accomplished with our ZappBug Oven or by simply throwing your purchases in the dryer set on high.  For a helpful tutorial on using your dryer to heat treat items, check out our video. It’s on heat treating bedding, but the same principle can just as easily be used to heat treat  recent clothing purchases.
Posted by Andrew Havlis