8 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 7, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
сoronavirus
Can immigrant-owned businesses in
Queens survive the COVID-19 crisis
BY TODD MAISEL
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Th e 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
make hundreds of tortillas, tamales and
tacos for her fans. Th eir great food has
even been featured in Th e New York
Times and other major food columns and
websites.
But with self-quarantine orders in place
and businesses closed, Vargas’ eatery has
suff ered mightily.
“Monday through Wednesday, we are
closed because there is no business at
all,” Vargas said. “So now we are open
Th ursday through Sunday. Some days
we make $50 to $75, and we might as
well stay home. It’s diffi cult now because
people were laid off , there are no jobs
here and people can’t buy prepared foods.
Th ere were a lot of immigrants here, but
they aren’t working now, so what do we
do?”
Vargas says they do delivery,
Photo by Todd Maisel
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 traffi c 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. Th e business is
only a year and a half old, fi nally becoming
established and popular with
workers from those warehouses
and factories.
On a normal
day, they
Joe Costillo of Phil Am grocery, just started to do business again after being in the center of COVID-19 crisis in Queens.
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.
Th e 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. Th ey are now borr
o w i n g mo n e y
f r o m fr i e n d s ,
and they haven’t yet
paid this month’s rent.
“ The la n d l o r d
doesn’t want
to negotiate.
When we asked
for a break, he
said, ‘No, I want
the whole rent,’”
Vargas sighed. “We
don’t know what to do. We
are trying hard to stay open.
We were doing well, but now
nobody is coming. Nobody is
helping us.”
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-yearold
ethnic Filipino grocery store on 70th
Street only 20 blocks from Elmhurst
Hospital.
Th e 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 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 fi rst hand and
people were getting sick left and right
including some employees. Th ere was
high anxiety so we had to close.”
Th e 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 have the luxury of staying home.
But last week, Costillo re-opened, taking
phone orders and keeping customers
at bay through a small window where
they hand groceries out the cubby hole
and limit exposure to people. Th at business
is starting to pick up slowly, but they
are under the fi nancial gun to pay vendors,
taxes and insurance.
Since they own the building, they don’t
need to pay rent. Costillo is just trying
to keep his head above water and keep
up with bills, and he continues to pay
employees, but “we are reaching the end
of our rope.”
He worries even more for neighbors
who must stay closed, mostly ethnic
restaurants that he would patronize that
might have to be shuttered because they
can’t open and won’t make their rent.
Th at would leave many stores around him
vacant and damage the community, he
said. “Some folks who have to make their
rent and make money are in real trouble,”
Costillo said. “We are doing things
we didn’t do before, including creating a
website that my father didn’t think we
needed. People come to us because it
is familiar to them – comfort food. But
for others like the restaurants, they
are just trying to hold on as long as
they could and they are hemorrhaging
money. Some will choose to close. We
can only hope they will recover.”
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