Businesses in cities around America are prepared for violence and looting following Tuesday’s election.

Shops, restaurants, and other businesses in Washington, D.C.; New York City; and Los Angeles have spent time over the past several days installing boards over windows and doors to deter vandals from breaking in.

Some residents in D.C. are even being encouraged to stockpile food in case it is not safe to go out in the days following the election.

George Washington University in D.C. emailed its students and asked them to consider stockpiling food and other goods in preparation for the unrest.

“We suggest preparing for the Election Day period as you would for a hurricane or a snowstorm that would prevent you from going outside for several days to grab food or order takeout,” Christy Anthony, the director of the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities at George Washington University, wrote in an email to students, per student newspaper The GW Hatchet.

Here are 18 photos of businesses preparing for the unrest that may follow the Nov. 3 election.

Workers cover the windows of a Vivienne Westwood designer clothing store on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles Oct. 30 (Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)
Carpenters board up a Blue Mercury store located on 6th Avenue in New York City Oct. 30. (Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
A woman takes a photograph of a shop that is boarded in Washington, D.C., Nov. 2. (Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
People walk by a boarded-up store in Beverly Hills Nov. 1. (Photo: Chris Delmas/AFP/ Getty Images)
Carpenters board up a Forever 21 store in New York City’s Times Square Nov. 1. (Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
A person adds protective wood boards to the windows of a CVS Pharmacy near the White House in Washington, D.C., Oct. 28. (Photo: Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
The Coach store in Beverly Hills is seen boarded up Nov. 1. (Photo: Chris Delmas/AFP/Getty Images)
Workers board the windows of a McDonald’s in Washington, D.C., Nov. 2. (Photo: Yegor Aleyev/TASS/Getty Images)
Workers board up the La Perla store in Beverly Hills Nov. 1. (Photo: Chris Delmas/AFP/Getty Images)
Temporary wooden panels protect shop windows and facades in New York City Nov. 2. (Photo: Christina Horsten/picture alliance/Getty Images)
Workers put plywood over the windows of a restaurant in Washington, D.C., Nov. 2. (Photo: Daniel Slim/AFP/Getty Images)
A woman walks by a boarded-up Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City Nov. 1. (Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
A worker puts boards over the windows of a Starbucks location near the White House in Washington, D.C., Oct. 31. (Photo: Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty Images)
Workers board up windows down 5th Avenue in New York City Nov. 2. (Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
Workers in the Soho area of New York City board up shop windows Nov. 2. (Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)
Workers cover shop windows with plywood panels in Washington, D.C., Oct. 31. (Photo: Yegor Aleyev/Tass/Getty Images)
Workmen board up a shop in Washington, D.C., Nov. 2. (Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images)