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May 29-June 4, 2020
Flushing BID launches initiative to help small
businesses in post-coronavirus recovery
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
After shutting down for two and a
half months to help mitigate the spread
of COVID-19, small businesses in Flushing
are preparing to reopen under a new
initiative that will protect business owners
and create a sense of safety for consumers.
The downtown Flushing Transit Hub
Business Improvement District on May
16 launched the Small Business Rebuild
Initiative to help local small businesses
regain opportunities in the post-coronavirus
economic recovery.
Flushing BID members were joined
by Councilman Peter Koo and Sandra
Ung from Congresswoman Grace Meng’s
office at Bland Playground, located at
40th Road, to announce the Small Business
Initiative funded by the Neighborhood
360 Grant provided by the NYC
Small Business Services.
The BID received $10,000 from the city
and will distribute over 350 face shields,
6,000 masks and 100 pairs of gloves to
small businesses, according to Dian Yu,
executive director of the Flushing BID.
“During the last two months, the foot
traffic in Flushing was down by 80 percent
and a lot of restaurants lost at least
40 to 50 percent of businesses. Small businesses
are struggling,” Yu said. “We hope
to create a safe atmosphere in downtown
Flushing to attract more consumers
while keeping the small business workers
safe through this initiative.”
According to Yu, quite a few restaurants
and grocery shops in Flushing have
The Flushing BID launched its Small Business Rebuild Initiative by distributing PPE to
local small businesses that have reopened. Courtesy of Flushing BID
recently reopened since the situation has
been slowly improving in the city, while
more are preparing to reopen soon.
“Until the city is fully reopened we
will not see the full recovery,” Yu said.
“We’re the lucky ones. We are seeing the
foot traffic coming back a little — a few
weeks ago, there were some pedestrians.
The best thing to do is to observe social
distance, wash your hands, and just cover
your mouth and those are the basic
things that will carry us out of this whole
predicament.”
The coronavirus pandemic has affected
small businesses in a variety of
ways and has also presented a new set
of challenges for business owners in the
community.
Prior to the coronavirus outbreak,
business owner Timothy Chuang received
an influx of customers at two of
his stores located on Main Street: NY
Tong Ren Tang, a Chinese herbal store
located at 40-34, and Xiang Fu Tang, a
bubble tea shop at 40-52.
Since reopening his stores for takeout
only, Chaung says foot traffic has
dropped to at least 70 percent.
“We are trying because we must pay
the rent. We must be open. If we’re not
open, even the government still wants to
collect the property tax,” Chuang said.
“We pay around $130,000 in property
taxes per year for NY Tong Ren Tang and
$200,000 per year for Xiang Fu Tang.”
Although Chuang applied for the
Payroll Protection Program loan and
received a total of $93,000 for Xiang Fu
Tang, it wasn’t enough funding to pay
the monthly rent of nearly $50,000 including
property taxes, he said.
“It helped our payroll but with other
stuff we still have a lot of expenses,” Chuang
said. “I don’t know where else to apply
because the banks don’t want to give
too much.”
Chuang is grateful for the Small Business
Rebuild Initiative that will help all
stores reopen. However, it’s only temporary,
he said.
“Some people will wear the mask and
come in, but there are other people that
are still afraid, and some of my employees
want to come to work but are afraid
of the virus,” Chuang said.
According to Yu, they’re working on
reassuring the public that it’s safe to return
to downtown Flushing, since businesses
are taking precautionary steps to
protect their employees and consumers.
“In order to have the consumer back,
we definitely need to provide the PPE for
the entire community, ” Yu said.
The Flushing BID is receiving support
from Koo, who has been helping
with deliveries to Flushing residents
during the pandemic.
“We are here to help our small businesses
to get through this difficult time,”
Koo said.
Read more on QNS.com.
Vol. 29 No. 22 28 total pages
2021
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