By Ilene Rosen
EAST VILLAGE — Independent shop owners along E. 9th Street, scrambling to attract shoppers during the holiday season, have started racing each to see who can get their gates up and open for business the fastest in the morning.
With shoppers increasingly hard to come by on places like E. 9th Street, as many small, independent, locally-owned businesses struggle to stay afloat, businesses here have banded together to support a "Get Local" movement to showcase and promote local stores.
Together, they are fighting off competition from big-box and chain stores, rising taxes and a 10 percent citywide unemployment rate.
“There’s a feeling of belonging, of camaraderie that you just don’t get when you walk down Fifth Avenue," said Dian Crystal, the owner of a gift shop with the same name.
The East Village Community Coalition has lended its support to the “Get Local” movement, publishing the third edition of the “Get Local Shopping Guide,” which can be found in many local stores.
The coalition is also working on proposed legislation to amend New York City’s zoning laws to discourage retail chains from moving into the neighborhood and retain small, locally owned businesses.
Part of the zoning change initiative includes a neighborhood study developed by the Pratt Center for Community Development.
Back in September, Vicki Weiner, Pratt's director of planning and preservation, told Albany lawmakers about a 2004 study done in Chicago that showed local businesses pumped 69 percent of their revenue back into the local community, compared to 43 percent from national chains.
“If we don’t continue to shop small stores, small businesses, it will just be a sea of chain stores.” Loureiro said.
“The big stores are so busy especially at Christmas time, they have the big deals, the big space the giant stores, if people don’t shop at the small boutiques I fear there won’t be any left. You see so many 'For Rent' signs now.”
Many storeowners said they're doing everything they can not just to keep their own businesses afloat, but the independent store owners around them.
“If someone can’t find something here,” Amanda Loureiro, owner of the vintage boutique, Dusty Buttons. “I’ll send them to some of my favorite vintage stores or some of the smaller boutiques around the corner.”
Loyal shoppers appear to be grateful.
“I think there are not enough little toy stores anymore,” said Vanessa Fadial, shopping at Dinosaur Hill, a toy store on E. 9th Street. “They are my favorite places to go, I’d rather go there than Toys R Us. It’s nice to have a family business.”
