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May 8-May 14, 2020
Can immigrant-owned businesses in
Queens survive the coronavirus crisis?
BY TODD MAISEL
The coronavirus crisis has
forced many businesses to close
– factories, warehouses, businesses
that employ hundreds if
not thousands of workers.
A few businesses, including
Ricas Pupusas Y Mas, a
Salvadorian style restaurant
in Woodside, Queens on 47th
Street, have been able to maintain
some operations. But business
has slowed to a trickle, so
they are only open four days a
week, as there isn’t enough foot
traffic to justify staying open.
Irma Vargas, an immigrant
of El Salvatore runs Ricas Pupusas
Y Mas with her husband
Daniel, and her two daughters
Amy and Abagail. The business
is only a year and a half
old, finally becoming established
and popular with workers
from those warehouses and
factories.
On a normal day, they make
hundreds of tortillas, tamales
and tacos for her fans. Their
great food has even been featured
in The New York Times
and other major food columns
and websites.
But with self-quarantine
orders in place and businesses
closed, Vargas’ eatery has suffered
mightily.
“It’s difficult now because
people were laid off, there are no
jobs here and people can’t buy
prepared foods,” Vargas said,
“There were a lot of immigrants
here, but they aren’t working
now so what do we do?”
Vargas says they do delivery,
and they are working with
Seamless, Uber Eats and call in
orders. But even delivery business
is sparse and they can’t
pay their bills.
The restaurant applied for
SBA loans but were denied.
Because they are a family run
business, she says, they’re not
eligible for relief under the Payroll
Protection Program. They
are now borrowing money
from friends, and they haven’t
yet paid this month’s rent.
Not far from Vargas is
Phil Am Grocery on the border
of Woodside and Jackson
Heights, Queens. Joe Costillo
and his father Emanuel run
the 40-year-old ethnic Filipino
grocery store on 70th Street
only 20-blocks from Elmhurst
Hospital.
The problem for Phil Am
was not that they were mandated
to close, but they were
forced to close as so many were
dying in their community from
coronavirus.
“We closed our store out of
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an abundance of caution for
staff and customers – we saw
early on that the area was lit up
and was a hot-bed of coronavirus,”
Costillo said. “We saw this
first hand and people were getting
sick left and right incuding
some employees. There was high
anxiety so we had to close.”
The Queens immigrant community
has had a much higher
number of people infected with
COVID-19 because residents
live in more crowded homes,
share quarters and are forced to
go to work when others had the
luxury of staying home.
Read more on QNS.com.
Vol. 8, No. 19 44 total pages
2021
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