Business owners not really loving a Yankees parade

November 5, 2009 By DANIEL EDWARD ROSEN. Special to Newsday

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The Yankees victory parade Friday may be great for the fans, but it's a pain for businesses along the Canyon of Heroes.

Photo credit: Freelance/Dave Sanders | Business owners like Mohammed Yosry of "World of Suits" are bracing for hundreds of thousands of fans along Broadway in lower Manhattan as the Yankee's victory parade goes past tomorrow. (November 5, 2009)

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The Yankees victory parade Friday may be great for New York City and the team's legion of fans, but it's a pain for local businesses located along the Canyon of Heroes, owners say. "The parade for me is trouble," says Yosry Mohammed, 49, of Bensonhurst. The manager of The World of Suits on Murray Street, just off Broadway, said Thursday he likes the parade, "but for business, it's no good."

For Elliot Feldman, an employee at Willner Chemists on Broadway, the parade brings in people into the store, just not for the right reasons. "I get business from people who want to use the bathrooms," said Feldman, 58, of Belleville, N.J.

Julio Sosa, Feldman's co-worker, has been to every Yankees victory parade since 1996 and expects to be watching Friday's from the store's front window overlooking Broadway. To Sosa, nothing will beat his first Yankees parade in 1996. "It was great. The city was glowing," said Sosa, 33, of the Bronx.

Friday's ticker-tape parade is the first for the Yankees since 2000, when they drew an estimated 1 million fans. Although a spokesman for the office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that their office "does not do estimates," Friday's parade promises to attract a larger number of Yankee die-hards who waited nine years to see Derek Jeter and company again get showered in confetti. This includes Stephanie Nieves, manager of Continental Shoe Repair and Shine, just off the Canyon of Heroes, whose mother used to work as a security guard at the old Yankee Stadium. "I'm going to take a lot of cigarette breaks," said Nieves, 24, of Fordham, in the Bronx. Nieves' customers have been preparing for the expected throng of fans who will pack the sidewalks for the parade. "Everybody is paying and picking up their shoes," Nieves said.

Renaissance Jewelers owner and Yankees fan Charles Zafarani was happy his team is the world champ, but was dreading the possibility of Friday's parade being an annual occurrence. "As long as the parade comes every 10 years, I don't mind. If they start winning every year, it's a problem," says Zafarani, 37, of Flatbush, who said his business shuts down during such parades.

"All retail, except for restaurants and bars, don't like the parades," says Romeo Amato, 45, manager of Suspenders Bar and Restaurant on Broadway. Amato, of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, expects to have customers arriving as early as 8 a.m. to pack the restaurant with food and drink orders. "I think the city needs a reason to celebrate, given how rough this year has been," Amato said.

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