#NYC stores and restaurants board up for Election Day turmoil

The lights went down, and the plywood continued to go up Saturday on old ‘Board’way — and across Manhattan in anticipation of Election Day unrest.

The Post found workers at chain stores such as Staples, Ann Taylor, and a Bed Bath & Beyond in Chelsea in the midst of hammering plywood across plate glass windows to ward off potential looters, as some nearby businesses, such as Argo Tea and Rosa Mexicana restaurant on Broadway, were already closed.

“No matter who wins, I think there are going to be angry people on both sides,” Willy Portacarrero said at the Staples he manages at Sixth Avenue and 20th Street. “We intend to be open that day, and hopefully nothing is to happen.”

Inside, cashier Janell, 45, described the girding for destruction — and the new lack of sunlight — as “eerie.”

Nearby art supply store Blick is already boarded up and plans to close at 3 p.m. Election Day.

“I doubt anything will happen,” a security guard there said. “But for precautionary reasons, whatever we can do to stay safe is best,” he said, especially given that no clear result may be tabulated until after Nov. 3.

Still, there was no consensus whether the added measures would even be necessary.

“I don’t think it’s going to be that dramatic,” worker Harold Samaniedo, 30, said as he installed boards across the Bed Bath & Beyond on Sixth between 18th and 19th streets.

If anything, all the boarding up is just scaring people who weren’t otherwise scared, he said.

“Some of them, they’ll walk in, and they’ll ask me, ‘Man, what’s going on?’ It’s alarming,” he said.

Other predictions were more grim.

“It’s really sh–ty, man!” said one of the workers installing boards at the Ann Taylor on Sixth  between 22nd and 21st Streets.

“The BLM…it’s f—ed up. Because you shouldn’t have to do this; you shouldn’t have to live like this … they’re not peaceful protesters,” said the worker, Tim DiMondi, 50.

Fortunately, the “Antifa” hoards he feared may descend on the city are likely not interested in looting that particular establishment, he said.

“This is an Ann Taylor,” he said. “They’re not looking for this. They’re looking for Nikes and Gucci and that kind of s–.

“This store will be safe.”