Downtowns Deflated: Small businesses vs. COVID-19

Closures associated with COVID-19 are threatening the health of Long Island’s many downtowns and the livelihoods of those who own businesses and employ workers there.

The renaissance of once-dormant downtowns has become increasingly important to municipalities that want to attract millennials, young families and retirees to areas with a transportation hub, retail and entertainment options and a vibrant nightlife. Though shopkeepers and restaurateurs express an almost paradoxical optimism that their businesses will survive, the virus is challenging the ability of once-vibrant areas to spring back to life after the pandemic retreats and will make it harder for those languishing or in the midst of revitalization efforts to move forward.

“If everybody comes back at half strength, then half our workforce has nowhere to work,” Greenport Mayor George Hubbard said. 

Here is what business owners and local leaders told Newsday about their fight to survive COVID-19: 

FREEPORT: 'There are tons of obstacles ahead'

With a hub of small businesses downtown and a well-known stretch of bars and restaurants on the water, Freeport sees more commercial activity than most villages on Long Island. Along Merrick Road and near the village’s Long Island Rail Road station, florists, pharmacies and other small shops crowd next to one another in attached brick buildings. About one mile south, seafood eateries on Woodcleft Avenue attract flocks of diners to the Nautical Mile, especially in the summer.

But businesses in both areas are suffering as the coronavirus keeps nonessential stores shuttered and customers out of sight, said Monica Bennett, the office manager of the Freeport Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s a very bustling, mixed community. We were thriving,” said Bennett, who owns a life coaching business in the village. “We were doing really, really well before all this took place. ... The ma-and-pa stores, they all had to close, they can’t stay open. ... Basically there’s nothing going on right now downtown except for the pharmacies or essential businesses.”

Billy Moustakas, owner of the Imperial Diner on Merrick Road, said he’s faced many challenges during 35 years in business. But the pandemic is different.

“I’ve been through hurricanes, I’ve been through blizzards, I’ve been through recessions,” he said. “But nothing like this. We have no protocol for this. None.”

The diner is limited to takeout and soon delivery, which is keeping the restaurant afloat even as its revenue has dropped by two-thirds.

Even if the diner could fully reopen, Moustakas said he’s concerned business will not return to normal so long as the virus still poses a threat. But the diner will figure it out one way or another, he said.

“There are tons of obstacles ahead, which we are going to have to overcome, but we always find a way,” Moustakas said. “We have no choice.”

COPIAGUE: 'Things are at a standstill'

A variety of businesses, including small Polish and Hispanic markets, cater to Copiague's large immigrant communities. Local officials and developers have worked for years to revitalize the hamlet's downtown, envisioning there a dense, walkable neighborhood of mixed-use buildings filled with new apartments, stores and offices.

The hamlet is ripe for just such a transformation, the thinking went, owing to its tight commercial core centered on its Long Island Rail Road station. Now the coronavirus has brought those plans to a halt, said Sharon Fattoruso, president of the Copiague Chamber of Commerce.

“There was a new building that was going up,” Fattoruso said. “Also a couple businesses were redoing the facade on their stores. So that was going to help, I think, the downtown area. ... We were on a nice road, to be honest with you. Things were looking good. Buildings were getting built. And now, all of a sudden, things are at a standstill.”

Johnnie Miranti, the owner of Johnnie’s Car Wash on Oak, said he had to lay off his entire staff. 

“It was devastating,” he said. “Most of these people live paycheck to paycheck.”

The car wash, once open daily, now only keeps weekend hours.

“When the cost of opening outweighs the revenue, it just doesn’t make sense,” Miranti said.

If the pandemic continues to disrupt the economy for months to come, Miranti said covering expenses and making rent will prove a challenge.

“The bills don’t stop,” he said. “If this goes on much longer it’s going to be difficult.”

GREENPORT: 'It's pretty much like a ghost town'

With its quaint downtown and attractive waterfront, the tiny North Fork village of Greenport can see its population swell to three times its year-round size in the warmer months. The 1-square-mile community at the end of the Long Island Rail Road’s Main Line has found diverse uses for its waterfront over the centuries, once hosting robust whaling, shipbuilding and oyster fishing industries before becoming a destination for tourism.

But with visitors staying home so far this year, even as spring rounds toward summer, businesses there are reckoning with the prospect of a serious drop in revenue, Mayor George Hubbard said.

“In the summer it’s vibrant, it’s almost like walking in city streets,” Hubbard said. “Now it’s pretty much like a ghost town, unfortunately.”

Businesses rely on outsized earnings in the warmer months to make it through the lean winter season. Many seasonal shops would be opening right about now were it not for the mandatory closures of nonessential businesses.

“I hope that all these businesses can survive,” Hubbard said. “It’s going to be a struggle for them.”

At the least, the mayor said, the village government is seeking to improve its telecommunications to get through this crisis and be prepared for any still to come.

“We are adapting to the times, but it’s a crash course,” Hubbard said.

Harbor Pet, a pet supply and grooming store, is one of many downtown businesses that relies on a summertime revenue bump.

“Greenport is a very touristy community,” said Kim Loper, a co-owner of the store. “If it doesn’t open up by Memorial Day at the latest, I would say we’re going to be hurting pretty severely.”

Loper said her anxiety about her business’ future has spiked since the pandemic began. 

“I’m more stressed now than I’ve ever been,” she said. “It’s more about money than it is about actually catching the virus.”