By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
On Maiden Lane, a side street off Broadway at the halfway point of Friday's tickertape parade, several small businesses sit tucked beneath high rise office buildings in the Financial District.
Alfanoose, a Middle Eastern restaurant on Maiden Lane, normally thrives on serving lunch to bankers. On Friday, the owner had to settle for the few customers who could get through road blocks to get to him.
"We count on lunch and today lunch was dead," said owner Mouhamed Shami, who has been at the location for four years.
With an estimated million people flooding the streets of Lower Manhattan from Battery Park to City Hall, foot traffic was blocked in many places, creating a nightmare scnario for commuters and businesses who work in the neighborhood.
Shami shut down his business last year during the New York Giants parade, but this year decided to prepare in advance. He asked his pita and vegetable suppliers to make early deliveries — about 5 a.m. — and delayed his dry goods dropoff to Monday.
A sign on the front door read "Restroom for Customers ONLY," but the restaurateur said he still had to resort to shouting at people who wandered in to use his bathroom. Some of them, he said, had been drinking on the sidewalk.
But while he lost about half of his normal lunch business, Shami, a proud Yankee fan, was philosophical about the day.
"You need to take the good with the bad," he said.
"Obviously we want to celebrate the Yankees. We are New York and we are proud of them."
For the women who work at Maiden Lane Podiatry, it was almost impossible to commute to work Friday morning.
Sandra Gonzalez, the office's medical biller, said it took her one hour to cross Broadway.
Gonzalez said the practice took fewer customers, knowing it would be nearly impossible to take patients during the parade.
"We know how it gets. The doctor has been here a while," Gonzalez said.
Natalie, a nurse from Flatbush who asked to be identified by her first name, was an hour late to work because Broadway was blocked off. She said rowdy fans harassed her and other women outside, blocking the building's entrance. A male co-worker had to yank them away from trouble, she said.
"It was a whole bunch of drama," Natalie added.
It was also a slow day for the cosmetics and fragrances business.
Hardly anyone shopped at the 150 Broadway Sephora, and two employees were in Lower Manhattan, but physically unable to walk to the store, according to the manager on duty.
She excused them from work and they took the train back home.
Despite the hurdles, one business on Maiden Lane still did a roaring trade. Liquor sales were up at Maiden Land Wine and Liquor.
Peter Muscat, who has owned the shop for 40 years, opened an hour early and brought in extra help.
Mike Brandt, 21, a self-described Bleacher Creature who said he attends almost 70 Yankee games a year was buying a bottle of Bacardi about 3:30 p.m.
"Anyone who had a bathroom and sold beer made a killing today," he said.
