6
QUEENS WEEKLY, MAY 31, 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
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.
“People need to feel comfortable
that this is a driven
community that everyone
is doing their shares ranging
from retail, the supermarket,
the barbershops,
doctor’s offices, etc. One
thing we can say for sure is
that many small businesses
might be able to survive
the first wave, then again if
there is another shutdown,
most businesses won’t be
able to survive.”
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.
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.com
or by phone at (718) 260–4526.
The Flushing BID launched its Small Business Rebuild Initiative on May 16 by distributing PPE to local small businesses that
have reopened. Photo courtesy of Flushing BID
ASTORIA TIMES ■ BAYSIDE TIMES
FLUSHING TIMES ■ FOREST HILLS LEDGER
FRESH MEADOWS TIMES
JACKSON HEIGHTS TIMES ■ JAMAICA TIMES
LAURELTON TIMES ■ LITTLE NECK LEDGER
QUEENS VILLAGE TIMES ■ RIDGEWOOD LEDGER
WHITESTONE TIMES
38-15 Bell Boulevard
Bayside, New York 11361
Advertising: (718) 260-4537
Classifieds: (718) 260-4590
Editorial: (718) 260-4539
www.QNS.com
PROUD MEMBER OF NEW YORK PRESS ASSOCIATION
BRIAN RICE
Publisher
ZACH GEWELB
Editor
RALPH D’ONOFRIO
V.P. of Advertising
ADVERTISING
Senior Account Executive:
Kathy Wenk
Account Executives:
David Strauss
Sherri Rossi
CIRCULATION
Roberto Palacios
CLASSIFIED
Classified Director:
Celeste Alamin
Classified Sales
Manager:
Eugena Pechenaya
EDITORIAL STAFF
Reporters: Bill Parry, Carlotta
Mohamed, Jenna Bagcal,
Jacob Kaye, Angelica Acevedo
Photographers: Nat Valentine,
Ellis Kaplan, Robert Cole
Copy Editors: Katrina Medoff
ART & PRODUCTION
Art Director: Leah Mitch
Designer: Connie Sulsenti
Layout: Zach Gewelb
/www.QNS.com
link
link
/schnepsmedia.com
/www.QNS.com
