Business
Coverage of local establishments.
In Chinatown, displacement continues
By Kevin Chen Behind the frosted display, 10 flavors of rolled ice cream and 15 toppings — mango yellow, strawberry red, blueberry purple — line the counters of Minus Celsius. Qiming Li settled into his store on the corner of Grand Street and Allen in 2016, when the average monthly rent in Chinatown was $1,028. […]
Citi Bike price hikes deter some, not others
By Sebastian Urrutia For those who don’t pay an annual membership fee, it costs $4.99 to unlock either a non-electric or electric Citi Bike, with the latter immediately charging 41 cents per-minute to ride and the former offering the first 30 minutes for free. So what makes the bike ride — versus hopping the subway […]
How far would you go for fro-yo?
By: Emilee Youn At the start of an hour of shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she waited for a taste of yogurt she’d seen on TikTok, Maria Kadaba, 18, was the 57th customer in the line. “I mainly came to visit the city because I wanted to try out Mimi’s,” […]
Having a main gig and a side hustle
By Sharnali Zaman Cardboard boxes of Honeycrisp apples, maraschino cherries and roma tomatoes were lined up horizontally on the top shelf of Mike Jones’ metal food vendor cart. It was 93 degrees on that corner of Greenwich and Chambers Streets, where he stood tending to that rolling cart and his customers. His face was wet […]
Thrift-buying but at higher costs
By Isabella Hong Two young adults stood by a rack of button-up shirts at Thrift NYC on East 14th Street, sorting through their finds. One was holding three shirts in their hand. But, at $20 each, Andrew Bochnovich, 27, said he might only walk out with one. “If they were, like, $15, I’d feel a […]
Blacks own a fraction of beauty supply stores
By Keva Ellie From behind the counter, a smiling Bashir Amadou waved goodbye to one customer while conversing with three customers at Sahel Beauty Supply, the hair extension, wig and cosmetics shop he owns and has run for 23 years in Brooklyn. His customers feel like family, he said. Mainly, they are Black people, patrons […]
Nostalgia (and sales) at a stationery store
By Ocean Hiller Luke Georgiades’ handwriting is messy, the equivalent of a 5-year-old’s scribbles, he said. But the woman he met the previous night loves letters and journaling. So, drawn to the cat-themed logo of stationery store Niconeco Zakkaya, he stepped inside to write her a message on a postcard—his scrawl aside. “There’s nothing like […]
New York’s iconic, disappearing yellow cabs
By Giana Nevarez Tevere It used to be that, on a busy day, yellow taxi driver Kazi Asaduzzaman would pick up around 30 passengers. But that Tuesday in July, half that number got into his back seat. “Because of Uber and Lyft, there is no more business for us taxi drivers,” said Asaduzzaman, 64, who’s […]
Frenzy over fuzzy, furry key chain
By Chanelle Liu Inside the compartments of the computer monitor-sized organizer were clothing customized to fit fluffy, hand-sized, keychain versions of Labubu dolls, which also come in larger sizes. To the right of that sidewalk display, three rows of boxes of Labubus were stacked. Some were opened, so customers could see which color they desired. […]
Mixing old and new at a Portuguese bakery
By Sienna de Silva Businessmen in navy suits slowed their brisk pace, craning their necks and looking over their shoulders as they passed the hole in the brick wall on Saint Johns Place where bakery workers take customers’ orders and pass them sweet treats. Like those businessmen glancing backwards to read the menu placard screwed […]
From Ecuador to the US, selling her wares
By Jasmyn Centeno Mercedes Masaquiza places her handmade, crocheted keychains, beaded bracelets, and blouses across the fold-up table she placed on a spot at the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park. She sits down, then, on second thought, she gets up to adjust the hats on the rack and re-position her palm-sized crocheted flowers in […]
A sanctury for vendors
By Tiara Edwards Inside a sanctuary hidden by arched brick-walls is a 168 year old church-yard filled with a maze of vending tables with vendors conversing with customers. Each vending table with similar products, displayed jewelry, books, clothing, and antiques located on Avenue A and 1st Ave. “I got gold!”. A man with a baseball […]
Bridging music industry’s gender gap
By Michelle Yang Amina Walker has sung for as long as she can remember: at home, in the car, in her bedroom, on city streets. But when she’s on stage, she gets butterflies in her stomach. And when it’s her turn at the mic during Sound Thinking’s weekly jam sessions, she puts herself out there, […]
Braiding hair, for cash and culture
By Kelsi Bowen A woman with brown micro-locs sat in the second of eight chairs stretching from the door to the back wall of Latifa Natural Hair Salon. The woman wore a multi-colored orange, yellow, red, blue and green silk chiffon maxi dress she had made in Senegal, where she was born. Oval-shaped, faux gold […]
Melting pot in a barbershop
By Asma Aouissi Meant as a gag when it was created in the 1940s, the barber shop sign aimed to attract a melting pot of customers. It announced: “We speak: Italian · Russian · Farsi · Spanish · French · Polish · Uzbek · Greek · Moroccan · Portuguese · Romanian · Bengali · And […]
Selling art where it’s against the law
By Aisatou Kabba For years, Marty Allen has been selling his handmade puppets and Bryan Closi has been peddling his photography on some of the busiest spots in Manhattan, including ones where selling their work is illegal. “I’ve had my stuff confiscated and the police threaten to push me out. And when they do come […]
A “game-changer,” gluten-free bakery
By Zoe Ntouvas Growing up in a family of restaurant owners, food was the world to Josh Borenstein. That world came crashing down in 2007 when he was diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder causing severe abdominal bloating, nausea and fatigue. “Food was, like, his passion, his life, his whole world, so it’s very […]
Women taxi drivers are 1/10th of workforce
By Ishani Konar Of the 80,000 people driving taxis, limousines, Ubers, Lyfts and other ride-share vehicles in New York City, women are behind the wheel of only a few. Sixty-year-old Adalgisa Sanchez is one of those 8,000 women. With her son and daughter, single mother Sanchez moved to New York from the Dominican Republic in […]
The good and bad of Instagram influencers
By Julianna Nunez Rows of millennium pink-colored display tables are at the center and line the walls of beauty store Glossier’s SoHo location. Its floor-to-floor ceiling archways frame a back wall whose design puts shoppers in the mind of New York City subways. Wall tiles of different shapes spell out “You Look Good” and, under […]
Street performers aim to inspire and uplift
Street Performing in NYC By Anthony Jose Urena On a patch of concrete in Washington Square Park, Adjua Ajamu lays down his paisley-printed red carpet and, on top of that, a tip jar and a cube-shaped speaker that is connected to his phone. It powers the synthetic music that is the background for his singing. […]
Supply chain, social media and brand pricing
By Tatiana Allen As the saying goes, “everything old is new again.” That’s shown, for example, in how brands such as Puma, New Balance, Crocs, and Champion, once again, are popular. Their popularity is driven by several factors, including the influence of social media, marketing, and celebrity endorsements. The price increases, however, are supply chain […]
An affordable housing fight in financial district
By Samuel Espinobarros The 80-story high-rise slated for what not is a bare plot at Cedar and Greenwich Streets will host 5 World Trade Center, whose developers have committed to reserving 25%, or 330, of 1,325 proposed residential units as affordably priced apartments. “That’s not enough,” said Jill Goodkind, co-founder for 100% Affordable 5WTC, a […]
A worker-owned LGBTQ bookstore
By Carl Tsegah The air is crisp as Merlin Sabal opens the door to the BlueStockings Cooperative Bookstore. The morning sun illuminates a flag near the entrance whose rainbow colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, signifying the LGBTQ community. Sabal, 28, has spent the last four years as one of the owners […]
Crocheting, life-coaching from a park bench
By Laiba Lakhani At 9 o’clock on most mornings, he said, Bob Matthews sits on the same bench in Washington Square Park, just northeast of where the park’s stone walkway veers toward West Fourth Street. He pulls his pink and green needles from the crocheted hat, made from recycled material, covering his dreadlocks. “Crochet is […]
Weed sales soar on sidewalks, in storefronts
By Abraham Dume As Jonathan Perez, 28, sees it, his sales of cannabis gummies, cookies, cereal and other sweet treats and of pre-rolled marijuana joints, selling for $10 each, is a community service. “We’ve saved lives … Ever since we’ve come here there’s been more peace and harmony in this park,” said Perez, offering his […]
Thrifters: Recycled and Repurposed Clothing Helps Protect the Environment
By Reva Anna Gujral At Yellow Tag Thrift store, Zoey Alexis, 18, spends her work shift organizing clothing racks and ringing up customers at a vintage cash register with punch keys. She loves what she does in that Green Brook, N.J., store, and she loves the store’s environmental mission. “When you consider how every piece […]
Retailers Hire Social-Media Influencers
By Isabella Ji Spectrum staff On a Monday in April 2020, Kaitlyn Zayas, 19, sat in her living room, recording a social media post about the “happiness” bath bomb and the “luau” facial and body soap bar that had arrived in that day’s mail from one of the retailers she represents online.
Small Landlords: Covid-19 Hit Us, Too
By David Wang Spectrum staff When the Covid-19 pandemic hit New York, government officials made protecting tenants a legislative priority. For tenants unable to pay their rent, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a moratorium on evictions until August 20. But now landlords across the state are arguing that government policies are putting them in […]
For Teens, Fewer Summer Jobs
By Tylan Porterfield Staff writer For teens, finding a summer job can be hard to do. “Even if you apply for a fast-food restaurant, companies are looking for prior experience,” said Maddison Harris, 17, of the Bronx. This summer, she is working as a camp counselor at the Bronx Melrose Classic, a position she landed […]
Sidewalk Booksellers Still in Business
By Shreya Paul Staff writer At the start of his workday, on the corner of East 14th Street and Irving Place, Carlos Espada transfers books from cardboard and plastic boxes to a folding table and upside-down milk crates he’s arranged on the sidewalk. The books are for sale. He and his wife, Karina Gushiken, have […]