Update: At 10:58 p.m. on Thursday, a Savers spokesperson told us, "Out of an abundance of caution, we temporarily closed our store to investigate a potential pest concern. A licensed third-party pest control company conducted an inspection and found no evidence of an issue on our sales floor. The health and safety of our customers, team members, and communities is our top priority."
The Savers on Center Ridge Road is temporarily closed, and it comes days after a complaint of alleged bed bugs found on clothing.
Jamie Natole said she was shopping for new work clothes on Saturday.
It's a trip to the thrift that Natole has been making for about 15 years.
"'I've probably been going to Savers for maybe five or six years now. It's a great store," she told me. "There's always a good selection of things from house goods and clothing and just really always something really cool and interesting to find."
Natole said she's never had issues at Savers, so this last Saturday was a first.
She said because this Savers doesn't have a fitting room, she tried on a top over the clothes she was wearing.
"I went to go pick one (shirt) up out of my my cart and it had like a ruffle design down the middle. I noticed there was like a dark spot and I kind of opened the fabric and that's when I saw the first bed bug," Natole said.
Natole told me she tossed that top back in the shopping cart and then grabbed a second blouse to inspect.
That second blouse, according to Natole, had an adult bed bug attached.
"I very calmly grabbed my personal items in the cart to go tell someone at the store. That's when I noticed that they were crawling on my purse, baby ones, little tiny ones. They were crawling on my tote bag that I had brought and then I noticed that they were crawling on me as well," she said.
Natole said she immediately notified a store employee and then left the store.
"I spent like 20 minutes just really thoroughly checking my clothes and myself and my belongings out. I left my belongings in the trunk. I left my car outside. I let it bake in the sun at 150 for five hours just to be sure. I had to go home, put my clothes in a bag, seal them up. I ran upstairs and took a shower," Natole said.
She claims to have seen at least 12 bed bugs on her person and in her shopping cart.
Natole explained she's previously been employed with a multi-family real estate company, which would send her to a "local one day bed bug convention."
"I've seen them (bed bugs), but in a bottle and contained, not crawling on my body, not on possible merchandise that I want to take home, so that's the first time I've really been exposed to them in person," Natole said.
I reached out to Savers' media team on Tuesday for information.
We take these matters very seriously. The health and safety of our customers, team members, and communities is our top priority.
As part of our standard operating procedures, all Savers locations adhere to rigorous cleanliness, sanitation, and pest prevention protocols. In the event of a pest-related concern, we take immediate steps including a thorough inspection by licensed professionals, and we will activate deep cleaning measures as needed. We are committed to maintaining an enjoyable shopping experience and continue to monitor the situation closely.
I followed up with Savers about the potential closure of the store and if the Rocky River location had any previous complaints of bed bugs. I haven't heard back as of the time of publication.
When we stopped by the store on Thursday, there was a sign posted on the front door that it was temporarily closed. A reason was not listed.
"I'm relieved that the store is closed. I'm relieved that people can't go in there and possibly expose themselves, take stuff home that might expose their homes. I did talk to a district manager yesterday from Savers. She did explain that they were going to treat the store but didn't really have any idea of when or where. She just told me when the store is closed so that didn't really give me a lot of confidence that it was going to happen, but I'm glad to see the store's closed," Natole said.
Savers has yet to confirm if there are truly bed bugs inside the Rocky River location.
If it's true, though, Relic Clothing 3 Owner, Reinaldo Contreras III, said bed bugs are not a normal find while thrifting.
"I rarely see bugs and if there are bugs, they're like normal bugs. They're not like no weird bugs that I would have to look up on Google or something like that," he said. "I think people are kind of good when it comes to not donating stuff that has bugs, but sometimes there will be hair and stuff."
When he's seeking new items to resell through his business, he goes through a process of inspection.
"It's kind of extensive," he explained. "Definitely check every nook and cranny of the shirt or pants or hat. Say it's a hat. There might be a little space in between that you should look through."
Contreras III scrubs blemishes and stains out with a brush and soap. He also deep cleans larger articles of clothing in a bin filled with Oxyclean and Dawn soap as an extra precautionary step.
The clothes he deep cleans will sit in a bin of cleaning products for about 48 hours.
Not only does he operate his own vintage clothing shop, but he also volunteers at a Lorain thrift store where he sorts through the clothes when they're first donated to ensure they're usable.
"I like people's mindset behind donating it, but they kinda have to watch what they're donating and kinda make sure it's gonna be usable for other people," Contreras III said. "A lot of these thrift stores are definitely clean. A lot of the women in the back take pride in these thrift stores."
He suggests that anyone who purchases from secondhand or thrift stores toss their items in the dryer, as he says heat will kill pests, and then immediately wash the clothes.
While the bed bug allegations are disappointing to hear, Contreras III hopes this potential one-off situation doesn't deter people from thrifting.
"We're still saving the world here. We're still saving the world by buying used clothing. We don't really need to make any more right now. There's a lot of clothing out there, so it's still like a good thing for this earth, for this community," he told me.
Contreras III said he's trying every day to uplift the reputation of thrifting.
"Our reputation is actually everything," he said.
As for Natole, she's taking a step back from thrifting for the time being, but she does want her story of caution to be a helpful tool to others.
"I think it's important for others to know that's going on," she told me.
