07 GRADUATE THESIS: AROUND THE WORLD IN 40 BLOCKS: SMALL BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES ON THE EFFECTS OF DIVERSITY ON THE RETAIL CORRIDOR IN JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS

INTRODUCTION

New York City has a long tradition of small business, from the earliest pushcarts and markets to today’s street vendors and shops. Some of the most recognizable, like the much-beloved bodega, were first established by immigrant communities in response to a demand for specialty products and, often, informal social spaces. Today, 48 percent of New York City’s small businesses are immigrant-owned, employing half a million New Yorkers and contributing billions of dollars to the city’s GDP.


In the 1950s, Colombian and Cuban entrepreneurs began to establish businesses in Jackson Heights, Queens, contributing to the formation of some of the first immigrant communities in the neighborhood. Three decades later, the first Indian-owned businesses in Jackson Heights opened as Indian entrepreneurs began leasing vacant storefronts. Retail clusters like these have been called "ethnic enclaves", broadly defined as places with high concentrations of businesses and customers who share a common ethnic identity. Today, businesses in Jackson Heights’ “Little Colombia” and “Little India” are more accurately multiethnic. Globalization and economic mobility have brought about a neighborhood that is increasingly diverse in every sense of the word, transforming the commercial signature of the place. How a neighborhood’s small businesses interact in this space will help shape the future of its retail corridor.


Twenty-two small business owners in Jackson Heights were interviewed for this study, which compares the experiences of businesses on or near 74^th Street that were originally conceived to meet the needs of the South Asian community through the offering of specific products and services (12) to those of general businesses like pharmacies and hardware stores, primarily on 37^th Avenue (10). They deal in products ranging from saris to prescription eyeglasses and self-identified as coming from a variety of backgrounds. Despite their varied offerings, contrasting priorities, and different personal journeys, business owners experienced similar dynamics buoyed by a reliable customer base and long-established corridor, as well as both anxieties and hopes regarding ongoing demographic changes.

FINDINGS

I. Transnationalism

The market for buying gifts to send or take back to one’s homeland was prominent in the early years of Jackson Heights’ South Asian enclave. In the 1990s, the retail block on 74^th Street had several electronics shops that sold imported 220V appliances, which were a popular gift to bring back. Area businesses have since slotted themselves into different roles in the local economy, from international money transfer services that advertise currency exchange rates to luggage sales that complement purchases bound for abroad. Forty years on, the 74^th Street retail strip has not only endured but grown, though its core customers may have changed. Business owners noted subtleties in customer preferences, such as vegetarian food preferences among some groups, halal among others. Groceries and supermarkets seem well situated to accommodate and adjust. Meanwhile, among general neighborhood businesses there was an acknowledgement of the need for multilingual customer service.

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II. The Location + Reputation Advantage

Cultivating a reputation by word-of-mouth was the modus operandi of businesses old and new. Some of the business owners contribute to community causes that grow their reputations in lieu of resources dedicated to conventional marketing strategies, though the societal pressure to contribute financially can also feel burdensome. Ultimately, the business owners valued the trust built up over years of service to their community. This may however be a source of anxiety in markets where business is slowing. For purveyors of South Asian clothing and jewelry, for example, the reputation advantage is upended by nature of new customers’ unfamiliarity with the market and products.

Walkability and the absence of big box enable businesses to occupy spaces and provide services for which people would otherwise go to a big retailer. Jackson Heights’ co-ops in particular have helped 37^th Avenue establish an ecosystem of its own. Five of the nine businesses interviewed along 37^th Ave referenced the co-ops as helping to add to the homeowner population, and thus, residents who would be in the community for some time—“embedded” as one business owner described it. And there are long-time relationships embedded in the long-time businesses. During one interview, a customer shared, “That’s why you come here and you don’t go to Home Depot... because you get personal service. However many times I’ve moved, I [come here].” The owner responded, “See, that’s the service I’m talking about. No matter what, they [big box] can’t take that away from us.”

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[ Findings/II continued ]

Few people used the term “gentrification” specifically, but they alluded to common anecdotes, such as a “Manhattan crowd” moving into the neighborhood. The effects were perceived to be concentrated around the upper 70s to 80s; one business owner near 74^th Street declared that his location was “not attractive to white people.” Another business owner observed that “the 80s” had new storefronts with “a different look, maybe a more gentrified look” as well as a Starbucks, the presence of which is popularly perceived as a telltale sign of neighborhood change. “The only thing constant is the change,” he added.

III. Community Cohesion

“Community” was invoked in different contexts: the hyperlocal business community, the co-op community, different ethnic communities. Jackson Heights organizations plan cultural events and the neighborhood hosts two annual neighborhood-wide parades for Queens Pride and Halloween. However, there appears to be no mechanism for interaction between retail blocks, with each section of the corridor operating independently. Although there are many advantages to a long-established business corridor, some business owners sensed that the business community is entrenched in a way that has not come to terms with today’s needs. Few credited local merchant groups with much beyond asking for donations and offering advertisement opportunities (and “not digital” advertisements, pointed out one business owner, who said that the association he was acquainted with skewed older and was “old school” when it came to marketing).

Others credited the local merchant groups in discussions about organizing street fairs, addressing parking needs, and supporting City efforts to convert an intersection near Roosevelt Ave into a pedestrian plaza. Only three immigrant business owners mentioned engaging with local political bodies. Though people were aware that avenues of access to resources were available, few took part themselves. The time-consuming work of running a business, an aversion to politics, or language barriers precluded it in some cases.

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IV. Modernizing + Adapting

“If I can convince you,” said a jeweler, “you won’t shop around to Tiffany’s. You will buy from me. But you should be able to trust me, and to gain that trust, I should be able to convince you.” This was a common refrain among the business owners, who shared two perspectives on modernization:

1. Elevate the reputation of the corridor, both to position the corridor as a prime destination for retail and attract young people to spend and invest in the neighborhood.

2. Establish an environment where businesses can more adeptly, and with less risk, respond to the current needs of neighborhood residents.

For business owners who experienced 74^th Street’s evolution into a main retail destination for products from the Indian subcontinent, in recent years there has been a conspicuous reduction in traffic. Now there exist other hubs for people to buy such goods, “unless you want to buy a lot of stuff for a wedding or something, then you come to Jackson Heights.” As the second and third generations come of age and possesses disposable income, business owners see an opportunity to encourage community interaction with a quality shopping experience and enable “Insta-sharing of food” by people who seek an experiential outing. Merchants compared themselves and their peers to national and international brands in an aspirational way—to position their small businesses with the same attention to brand and customer experience, “So even though this is Jackson Heights, this can be downtown Manhattan.”

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But Manhattan was also invoked in the context of rent and other costs. At the time of interview, a grocery and butcher shop was gearing to close after nearly 30 years. The owner noted that though competitors started to enter in the late 1990s, competition “skyrocketed” around 2006. Ultimately, for his business the reputation built from being one of the first Bangladeshi businesses in the area came up against hard accounting. He and another business owner who cited the crowded retail market decided to leave retail entirely in pursuit of service-based businesses.

An environment in which entrepreneurs can take risks has the potential to attract younger business owners with new ideas to the corridor and stimulate investment into the community. But according to business owners, in the 74^th Street block the old guard is entrenched; in other parts of the neighborhood, like along 37^th Avenue, amenities like childcare lag behind the community’s needs. Two business owners on opposite sides of the age spectrum also observed a lack of new young entrepreneurs in cultural businesses. For immigrants, entrepreneurship can be a path to economic mobility. “They came here to establish themselves,” said the older member, “and that is how they’re using it. And after they learn something, they’re flying away." “Everyone is a programmer,” said a second-generation business owner.

CONCLUSION

“Sometimes I call it blood money,” said a business owner who has been in the neighborhood for 32 years, “because I work all holidays. I don’t know what Easter or Christmas are like.” In every small business success story, there is the reality of grueling hours, complex regulations, and the daily arithmetic of sales against ever-growing expenses. Sometimes the challenge comes from certain external forces—unreasonable rents, lease disputes, or permit issues. Other times, the challenges are a function of a business’s life cycle, as when a successor to the business is not found, or the market changes irrevocably. Those non-market forces were the focus of this study.

The business owners interviewed were not interested in preserving the corridor in its current state but, rather, conserving its foundation—shops of cultural significance and small businesses that provide personal attention. The area’s affordability is what made it the neighborhood it is today. In that distinction, it has fostered an environment in which skill-sharing and success enable entrepreneurship. For small businesses to modernize, compete amid e-commerce and chains, and continue to contribute to the local economy and invest in the local community, they will require the tools and the space to do so. Communities are not static; they form, shrink, and shift as homeownership, wealth, and generations grow. As some groups mature and resettle beyond the neighborhood, newer communities can establish their place in the corridor, building on the investment of their predecessors. An organized approach to capacity building and corridor-wide planning in the neighborhood, paired with a commitment to the types of affordability that enable small businesses to thrive, will be essential to the corridor’s longevity.