Pre-pandemic, New York City’s Upper East Side could be described as a bustling myriad of bookshops, restaurants, cafes, and small businesses. Now, consecutive, “for rent” and “retail space for lease” signs line the dusty windows of long-abandoned small businesses.
Around the nation, three in every 10 small businesses say they are at risk of closing down permanently this year without further government aid. While the Trump and Biden administrations have rolled out PPP and small business relief funds, not everyone is lucky enough to receive this financial aid. In fact, the first round of PPP, which the Trump administration put forward in April of 2020, ran out in less than two weeks as panicked restaurant owners hustled to stay afloat.
Eric, an employee at the Korean restaurant Mokja (located at 88th and 1st ave), said the restaurant applied for many of these loans but was rejected by most. Mokja did not receive the first round of PPP and was rejected from the more recent EIDL(Economic Injury Disaster Loans) as well. They did end up receiving an RFF loan which Eric said gave them a lot of support, but he still thinks more could have been done to help struggling businesses. “We definitely felt neglected in the beginning because the government, I feel like they were a bit slow in giving out aid, especially since they said no dine-in from the get-go in March, and then didn’t give us a way out until much later.”
Mokja was able to push through the pandemic by cutting down on employees and hanging onto government protection loans, and Eric adds that their business had already been centered on takeout as opposed to dining in pre-pandemic, unlike many other Upper East Side restaurants, and this likely was the reason they were able to stay open.
As restrictions ease, Eric said he hopes for some stability, a sentiment echoed by other store owners.
“I do hope that people, having been isolated for too long, can get back into the swing of things. I want the life that we had back,” Illana Aminov, manager of Drug Mart, a local pharmacy at 86th and York avenue, says. Drug Mart remained open for the entirety of the pandemic, continuing to provide medications as well as mental support and information regarding Covid-19 to the UES community. Seeing that most hospitals and clinics shut down in March 2020, Illana says, “A lot of people were relying on us to stay open. They didn’t really have any healthcare professionals to look to because they couldn’t go anywhere.”
But it was tough staying open, she says. “You know, the few things that are still plaguing the pharmacy are the pharmacy reimbursements- we’re getting paid less than we got before, so that brings on more difficulties. And we also do more. Now we offer Covid testing, and besides all the regular vaccinations, we also do covid vaccinations. So we provide a lot of services to patients, trying to make it as convenient as possible. But our reimbursements are just unbelievably low. We got hit with the local economy, as well as the reimbursement side of things.”
Down the block on first avenue, Sam Choi, the owner of Yorkshire Wines & Spirits points out that his business wasn’t hit as hard at the beginning of the pandemic, especially in March and April 2020 when they even had an increase in business. However, in the later months of the pandemic due to reduced staff and new CDC guidelines, business slowed down. AJ, who works at Yorkshire Wines and Spirits, says, “ We all worked through the pandemic, taking all precautions, hand sanitizers, and no one got sick.”
AJ explains, “Many people went into stress mode and they couldn’t go anywhere. Not to the club, not to the bar, couldn’t go to the movies, couldn’t go see their girlfriend and their loved ones.” As stress from the pandemic increased, so did the quarantine drinking, and reflecting on it now, it seems the excessive pandemic drinking helped sustain their business.
“That’s true, that’s true”, AJ admits to chuckles from other employees in the shop. “And I heard that alcohol kills viruses too!”
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