Looted Roseland business gets some help cleaning up

Members of Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s Project Rebuild help clean up Top Gold Jewelry on Thursday. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Workers sent by the Cook County sheriff’s office Thursday moved broken glass and shattered cabinets into a dumpster outside Top Gold Jewelry, a mom-and-pop store in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood.

The business had been broken into on the night of May 30 and had contacted Project Rebuild, a program by the sheriff’s office that helps businesses damaged by looting after protests May 30.

Daniel Hong, 25, whose parents own Top Gold Jewelry, said his father got an alert on his phone when the burglar alarm went off and went to check on the store on 11202 S. Michigan Ave. But Albert Hong was unable to stop those who had broken in, and the damage continued “in waves” over several nights, Daniel Hong said.

This break-in happened during protests prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, but Daniel Hong said he believes the looting “had nothing to do with the protests.”

“We saw a lot of people [in the store], they were just having a good time,” Daniel Hong said, noting the people who broke in were recording themselves. “[They] weren’t thinking about [people such as George Floyd or Breonna Taylor] at all.”

“Obviously it sucks,” he said of the damage. “My parents came here with nothing.”

His parents, Albert Hong, 68, and Justina Hong, 63, emigrated from South Korea in 1981. The Hongs started in a clothes kiosk in a mall and have put their money toward helping their two children or their business, Daniel Hong said.

Trying to clean up was difficult. “We don’t have insurance, we [had] to do everything ourselves,” he said.

Top Gold Jewelry owner Albert Hong, 68, and his son Daniel, 25, inside the looted shop at 11202 S. Michigan Ave. in Roseland Thursday morning.

Then they found Project Rebuild online, a program created to help those affected by looting, said Kathy Carmody, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman.

The project offers a range of services from cleanup help to small carpentry work, said Tisa Morris, director of community engagement for the sheriff’s office. The project seeks out businesses that suffered damage and looting, and can be contacted online through the email ccso.sheriffrebuild@cookcountyil.gov.

Top Gold Jewelry has been in its location for six years but plans to reopen at 11107 S. Michigan Ave. The Hongs haven’t been able to get in touch with their landlord since the looting, so they have cleaned out the space and ended their lease, Daniel Hong said.

Some equipment and merchandise was salvaged but “probably less than 10%,” Daniel Hong said. “For the most part we’re starting from scratch.”