A number of high-end shops in the vicinity of Geary and Stockton Streets had their basements flooded Saturday after Central Subway construction crews busted open an eight-inch water main that unleashed thousands of gallons of water over six hours. The accident occurred early in the morning and forced the closures of multiple stores on Saturday and Sunday including Bulgari, Vera Wang, Lacoste, Chanel, and Neiman Marcus. In addition to needing their basements pumped out, the power was shut off to the area to prevent people from getting electrocuted in standing water.
As CBS 5 reports, the water main leak was capped on Saturday around noon, but cleanup efforts continued well into Sunday. Thankfully for shoe hounds, Jimmy Choo managed to reopen for Sunday shoppers.
The city and the SFMTA are taking responsibility for the mishap and had insurance claims adjusters out in force over the weekend, but given the amount of high-end merchandise that may have been damaged in basement stockrooms, we may not know the total cost of the leak for some time.
Meanwhile, local news stations have had a ball referring to these stores "for the filthy rich" and speculating whether they'll have some kind of flood sale on damaged purses and pumps in the coming weeks. Sidebar: The Chron just did a piece about how luxury retail is booming here and in the South Bay because of, obviously, all the new rich people we have now.
Kristen Sze at ABC 7 is rejoicing that Vera Wang and Chanel are back open today.
At least it wasn't raw sewage.
