Bomb Threats Continue Against Ralph Lauren Store On Main Street

During the summer of 2025, several high-profile bomb threats were made against the Ralph Lauren store on Main Street, which prompted Nantucket Police and State Troopers to shut down a large part of the downtown area, including several businesses. Winter has arrived, and the bomb threats have continued against the store.

According to police reports obtained by the Current through Freedom of Information Act requests, the Ralph Lauren store at 16 Main Street has been targeted by additional bomb threats on Dec. 9, 2025, and again on Jan. 3, 2026. That brings the total number of bomb threats against the downtown store to six since last August.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Massachusetts State Police continue to investigate the threats, but no one has been arrested.

"It's absolutely still under investigation," Nantucket Police Department Lt. Angus MacVicar told the Current. "We're not necessarily doing any investigating ourselves because we don't have the technology and the ability to do some of the things the other agencies are able to. We stay in close contact with them and look to have any updates they can provide. But at this time, they haven't identified a suspect where there's enough information to charge them."

While the incidents have continued, the response to them by Nantucket Police and the State Troopers has changed significantly. In response to the bomb threats during the summer, police shut down a wide swath of the downtown area surrounding Ralph Lauren, ordered the closure of some businesses, and kept vehicles and pedestrians away. In response to one of the threats in August, which included a claim that the suspect had a firearm, police trained their rifles on the store and flew a drone over Main Street. During the subsequent bomb threats, however, the police response has been significantly restrained.

"When these things come in, and unfortunately we've had quite a few of them, we naturally have a modified response," MacVicar said. "I'm going to be perfectly honest with you, it's tricky. You have those initial original calls where they describethe day it was going to be a bomb, that there was going to be an IED, there was going to be a manufactured firearm, not one that was purchased, necessarily. And so some of these details were relayed, that they were going to occur, so of course, we responded accordingly. And then after it happened more than once, more than twice, more than three times, then we, as an agency, in conjunction with the Fusion Center and the FBI and the State Police Detective Unit, made group determination as to what was happening here, what it looked like with better understanding. And then we modified our response once it fit into the same unique parameters as the original calls."

As to why Ralph Lauren has been the target of repeated bomb threats over the past six months, MacVicar explained that "I don't want to say why that is most likely the case, because I don't want it to contribute to any other potential situations or other copycat-type people. But yes, we have a pretty good idea why that is, and that, of course, information has been relayed to the FBI as well as the Fusion Center."

Employees at the Ralph Lauren store on Main Street declined to comment for this story, and the company's media relations contact did not return a message seeking comment.

The latest threats have included some bizarre details. Just before 5 p.m. on Dec. 9, a Nantucket Police Department dispatcher received a call from a man with a California phone number, who stated he had placed an IED (improvised explosive device) in front of the Ralph Lauren store, and that he had come from the West Coast on the boat "to cause mass casualty."

The caller then proceeded to sing the "12 Days of Christmas" song to the dispatcher with altered lyrics.

Nantucket Police officer Jack Moran responded to the store, spoke with staff, and even went as far as checking and opening all of the presents under the Ralph Lauren Christmas tree to ensure there was nothing suspicious inside of them. He found only clothes hangers.

When Moran returned to the police station, the caller who made the threat was back on the phone with dispatchers, and Moran was able to have a conversation with the suspect.

"I attempted to have the male suspect come to NPD to talk to me in person, however, he stated we would 'just arrest him'," Moran wrote in his report, which was heavily redacted. "After the male suspect appeared to realize I was not giving him the response he wanted, he began calling me (redacted) multiple times, (redacted) as well as (redacted) and failed to continue having a level-headed conversation. The phone call ended a short time following."

The suspect called back 10 minutes later, lodged yet another threat, and had a similar dead-end conversation with Officer Moran.

Just a few weeks later, on January 3rd, 2026, a similar call came into the Nantucket Police Department dispatch, with a male suspect claiming he had placed an IED at Ralph Lauren, and claiming he was there and armed with a "3D printed Glock pattern pistol."

The incident report also notes the Nantucket Police Department's concern that the bomb threats may be linked to the Fisher Real Estate webcam, which provides a live view of Main Street, including the Ralph Lauren store.

"While awaiting the arrival of NFD personnel, Sgt. Rockett advised Ofc. Tirone and I that the 'Fisher Real Estate' camera located across from 16 Main St. at 21 Main St., had an active live feed and was capturing the building in question," Officer Moran wrote. "Due to security concerns with the live feed possibly being monitored, I requested that NPD Dispatch contact a representative of Fisher Real Estate to terminate the feed during our investigation. A representative granted us permission to access the building and terminate the feed manually if necessary."

In an interview with the Current, MacVicar said the person or persons making the threats are using devices and technology that make them extremely difficult to identify. Still, the investigation remains ongoing.

"We're working closely to identify this person to hopefully put an end to these calls," MacVicar said. "We're definitely paying attention to it. None of this has been lost on us or forgotten. And we're certainly doing our very best to get this person identified."