The Brooklyn Bureau reports that with 40 percent of businesses in Sheepshead Bay still closed after Sandy, there’s few cohesive efforts by local businesses to recover. But is this because of the area’s heavily-immigrant communities?
Data released by the public advocate’s office finds that small businesses in the outer boroughs receive a disproportionate number of visits by city inspectors, and consequently, a higher amount of fines, the Queens Chronicle and The Riverdale Press report.
Small businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy can apply for some of the $1 million available through the city’s Small Business Assistance Grant Program. Few Chinese businesses, however, have applied, reports World Journal.
For Chinatown’s restaurants and stores, not only has business not recovered to pre-Hurricane Sandy levels, but the latest struggles come on top of the recession, a reduction in foot traffic, businesses fleeing the area, and more recently, the cold weather, reports World Journal.
QueensLatino visited 103rd Street between Roosevelt and 39th Avenues in Corona, Queens, to find out how Latino business owners are being affected by the still-lingering economic crisis.
Shopping website Luxe Colore, which means “colorful luxury” in French, is approaching the retail experience in a different way – and incorporating a little color in the process. Launched a year ago by Sunny Newsome, 36, and Tanya Sotillo, 35, Luxe Colore is dedicated to promoting brands and businesses owned by people of color.
Many immigrants don’t like to carry any debt and are more disciplined about saving than Americans in general, but these good habits can hurt them with a banking industry that relies on credit reports and proof that someone can pay their bills.
With two to three bodegas closing every day in New York, the Spanish America Grocery in Tremont is yet another bodega that has fallen victim to high rent, El Diario reported. The store owners relied on a Dominican credit system to keep their business going in the low-income neighborhood.
Ariel Barbouth had no background in the culinary arts when he decided to bring authentic Argentinian empanadas to America. But his passion for the meat pies has paid off.
MTV Base MEETS, an interview show that runs on African MTV networks, seeks young Africans living in NYC; an ethnic newspaper editor argues against handing out newspapers for free; the library system tackles unemployment; and some more coverage of the Ippies awards.
World Journal reported on a Chinese-owned fabric and toy store in Sheepshead’s Bay, Brooklyn, where the owner faced rapidly increasing fines from the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs.
Jackson Heights in Queens may not have the traffic of Times Square, but the city has installed a pedestrian plaza in the heart of this South-Asian hub. While the city has won accolades for pedestrian plazas elsewhere, the Jackson Heights plaza has infuriated local merchants.
Small business owners claim they were fined “excessively” by inspectors for small violations that they immediately corrected.
It’s a predictable fact of our daily lives that in extremely difficult times, we search for a glimmer of hope, anything that would tell us that better days are ahead. So it is the small businesses, especially those in minority communities, which are suffering heavy blows from the demoralizing effectsRead More
Though Lower Manhattan is ranked as the fourth largest commercial district in the country, the neighborhood’s small businesses struggled substantially following 9/11 and the ensuing recession. Such was the message relayed by several business owners at a City Council hearing on Downtown small businesses held on Thursday, Sept. 15.
