Author Archives: ap125170

By: Angelica Proano

Fifth Ave. known as the high-end fashion shopping district of Manhattan, is one most visited Avenues of this city. In the upper district of Fifth Ave., there are stores such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, Tiffany & Co, BCBG, Michael Kors and others many like these, but as for the Flatiron district of Fifth Ave., the businesses still remain high-end mixed with your regular H&M retail store. The Flatiron district is very famous for the flatiron building because of its unusual architect. Boutiques of the high-end business are located in this district as well as superstore business such as Home Depot. Many tourists visit this district a lot as well as for locals, these customers help maintain many of the businesses in the Flatiron district.

I did my research on the block before Madison Park and the Flatiron building, 22 street. Walking through 22 and 23 street, you can see many shoppers, many people with shopping bags rushing by to get from store to store. Just by this image one can assume that this shopping district is very vibrant and seems to be doing very well especially in this spiral economy that we live in. After talking to the managers of the stores I interviewed, all of them have said the same: Traffic is low, but they are maintaining, and through the holiday season it gets even better.

The first store I went into was a skin care/beauty type of business, called L’Occitane. Walking in, there are many shoppers; the store is practically filled especially with the complimentary samples. Ivica Jeras, the manager says that even though the traffic is low, they are still maintaining and able to attract new customers with their complimentary samples and great customer service. Talking to the manager alone made me feel so welcome to be in the store and made me want to buy from them. The next store I approached was BCBG Maxazria, this is the second boutique that they have on Fifth Ave., and it is smaller compared to the first one. I was unable to talk to any of the employees and being able to talk to the manager was not even a question. By the looks of it, the store was not flooded with customers; there were at most four customers during my time in the store. BCBG is a high-end store and by having a smaller boutique they are still able to profit even with low customer traffic.

Solstice sunglasses boutique and Aerosoles shoes were the next stores I visited on this 22^nd Street block. For both stores the customer traffic was very low. The managers seem to agree as well with the traffic being down but they both claim that they have their days and that it mostly depends on the weather. Despite the holiday season, these businesses have not seen much improvement on their profits and customer traffic. The last retail business I attempted to interview was a women’s clothing store, Eileen Fisher. The manager was in a rush and there were many customers in the store. Even though I was unable to do an interview with the manager one of the employees mentioned that the customer traffic has been good especially for the past months with the sales they have going. Without much luck on getting an interview by the manager of the Chase bank location, I did learn that previous to it being Chase, it was the Bank of New York, which Chase bank had bought out during the 2008 economy crisis.

Whether it’s the weather or the holiday season there are different reasons on why the customer traffic can decline or incline. Just by the looks of it, in my opinion I assumed that this district was doing great in customer traffic, but I only did a census of one block with 6 different retail stores. Traffic may be low, but they are still located on one of the most expensive avenues, the infamous Fifth Avenue.

By: Angelica Proano

It has been a little over a month since super storm Hurricane Sandy, but there are still businesses in affected neighborhoods that remain with their doors closed.  On the strip of Crossbay Blvd, in the Ozone Park/ Howard Beach neighborhood, at least two businesses have their doors closed for every block. The streets are still flooded with trash of lost goods and materials for the reconstruction of these businesses.

One of many “Closed” signs on local businesses

Two well-known chain businesses that have their doors closed for business is Petco and CVS Pharmacy. Both of these stores are locked down and completely empty. In their parking lots loaded in garbage trucks remain: racks, products and all the goods they sold that were damaged. There is no sign of any reconstruction on these two store yet, which leaves customers going to other places of the same industry to buy what they need. This may cause a strain for some customers, as they might have to spend a little more in traveling and buying what they need.

Petco empty and shut down

As a consumer of Petco, and a resident to this area, I have experienced first hand what the strains of such a business being closed comes with. In looking for another Petco near by, I realized that I would have to drive up to five miles to get to one, now if I wanted another chain pet store the distance would be either the same or greater. This left me with no choice than to become a customer to the local family owned pet store: Animal Pantry located ¼ mile away from Petco. There is one huge problem with being a customer to this store and that is the prices. Unlike Petco, where you have discounts with your pet pal card and genetic goods, Animal Pantry does not offer any of these. The prices for a bag of dog food is at least $20 more, the price for a leash is $10 more and so on. The only good side to coming to the local pet store is you will not waste more money on gas. At the end of the day it becomes an even exchange in a way. I spoke to a few customers in Animal Pantry who like myself were Petco customers. One customer, Vinny LoCasio says “ I rather come here and spend a little more than to go to Brooklyn and waste money on gas, I just hope that Petco gets back into business because I am not sure how long I can handle paying so much for dog food.” As for the owner who wished to remain anonymous states “Even though it’s a tragedy of what happened to the local businesses in Howard Beach, I am glad that I have more customers and that I am making more sales.” As some businesses lose because of Sandy others are winning.

CVS sign on the side of the store

With one CVS in Ozone Park and one in Howard Beach, with the Howard Beach CVS completely shut down all their customers are sent to the one in Ozone Park. One day going to my local CVS, I realize a full parking lot and traffic to get into the parking lot. I asked myself if something happen, after a 20 minute wait for parking as I walk into the CVS I see a line I have never seen before for the cash registers.  I approached a worker and asked what was going on and Sarah says, “The other CVS stores are closed so everyone from Howard Beach and Far Rockaway are here.” Waiting in line for over 30 minutes, I suggest to the manager that some of the employees from the closed down CVS stores should be brought here to work, he replies with “ Most of their employees are here working now, but we are still adjusting to the number of customers we are getting.”

Entrance to Howard Beach sign

Both customers and owners of businesses suffer in the aftermath of Sandy. Some businesses lose as others gain new customers and more business. Other businesses have to adjust to the overflow of new customers and adjusting their new bigger staff. Customers have to adjust to new stores, bigger lines, and more expensive goods. However, residences of these areas are hoping that soon things will get back to normal in the Ozone Park/ Howard Beach area.