Ever since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on 12 March 2020, many non-essential businesses have been closed, such as beauty product shops, cinemas, and boutiques, to count a few. This situation not only caused the said businesses to lose their source of income, all the while being expected to pay wages and rent, but some of them reopened them only to find more problems.
A leatherwear and accessories store recently opened its doors for the first time in two months since the enactment of a nationwide lockdown only to find out that virtually all of its inventory had molded, raising a lot of questions as a result.
More info: Nex Nezeum
As if the store closing for over a month wasn’t bad enough, this one found a sad surprise when it reopened
Credits: Nex Nezeum
A Facebook user by the name of Nex Nezeum recently shared a number of photos of various leather products covered in insane amounts of fungal mold. Shoes, bags, wallets, belts, and even the furniture and flooring were molding—truly a sight to marvel at, for one reason or another.
Back in March, Malaysia enacted the Movement Control Order, more commonly known as a lockdown in the rest of the world, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Non-essential businesses such as this leatherwear and accessory store were shut down until further notice.
So, fast forward to May 10th—53 days after the start of lockdown—the state introduces eased-up conditions for the lockdown, allowing the non-essential businesses to open up again, granted they meet physical distancing, disinfectant provision, and other requirements.
Credits: Nex Nezeum
Not much information is available as of the time of this article. However, people online are speculating that this is a Metrojaya Department Store in the Sabah State and that the air conditioning was turned off in certain unused areas of the outlet to save money on resource and maintenance costs.
Well, the only silver lining here is that mycologists are probably in awe of this spectacle, marveling in its sea of molding beauty. Oh, and these pictures also went viral, garnering over 11,000 reactions and 46,000 shares in just a day and being shared on various media outlets.
Credits: Nex Nezeum
Credits: Nex Nezeum
Credits: Nex Nezeum
Credits: Nex Nezeum
Following the success of the first set of pictures, Nex uploaded some more moldy goodness. What looks like a cinema also ran into the same bit of trouble, with mold covering all of the seats and the carpeting. Because of this, one commenter even dubbed him “Mycelium Man,” the superhero who hunts down moldy places for the internet’s enjoyment.
Photos of a cinema were also uploaded, with pretty much the same results as the leatherwear store
Credits: Nex Nezeum
Credits: Nex Nezeum
Credits: Nex Nezeum