The Warstic pop up was safe from looting this past weekend. (Photography by Margaret O’Rourke.)

Warstic, owned by Lake Highlands native Ben Jenkins, was safe from looting this weekend during the protests which traveled to Deep Ellum. The building was protected by the front gate which guards the entrance, but their neighbors weren’t as lucky.

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“Pretty close to home. The riots in deep Ellum resulted in both our next door neighbors being completely ransacked. Looted everything in the stores,” Jenkins wrote in a Facebook post. “Warstic showroom has a gate in front of the windows so we were spared. This video shows the skate shop and shoe store next to us. Feel so bad for those guys everyone is great people and that makes no sense they are minority owned businesses.”

Warstic also shared condolences through an email:

We here are Warstic are still trying to process what happened in our home of Deep Ellum this weekend. Friday night, we watched as our next door neighbors, Sneaker Politics and The Point Skate Shop, were looted.

We watched as countless other businesses were vandalized, including our favorite breakfast spot, All Goods Cafe, and our other neighbor, Maracas Cocina Mexicana.

As all of Deep Ellum rebuilds and these businesses assess their full damages, we’re asking you, #WarstripeNation, to help our neighbors. If you can, check out their websites and place an order. Or, when you come to visit us when HQ opens later this year, visit our neighbors as well. Make a day of Deep Ellum, eat at the amazing restaurants and shop at the other local stores that make this neighborhood unique.

We also ask that you listen to the unheard. Warstic is for the underdog, and we believe Black Lives Matter. Broken windows can be fixed, stolen goods replaced. But human lives are far more precious.

The new HQ being built for Warstick was boarded up. (Photography by Margaret O’Rourke.)