EAST VILLAGE — Members of an online group dedicated to preserving small businesses and cultural institutions are hosting a “Small Biz Crawl” this weekend to help out mom-and-pop shops affected by the Second Avenue gas explosion last month.
“They told me, ‘Business is bad. We need help,’” said Kirsten Theodos, a member of #SaveNYC, the group organizing the crawl.
Participants will meet up at Gem Spa — located on the southwest corner of St. Marks Place and Second Avenue — at noon on April 11 before visiting seven other businesses on a two-block stretch that extends to East Sixth Street, according to the event’s Facebook page.
Other stops include Himalayan Visions — a shop specializing in items from Tibet and neighoring countries — as well as the grocery store New Yorkers Food Market and eateries like Paul's Da Burger Joint, Hot Kitchen and Bar Virage.
So far, more than 100 people have said they would attend Saturday’s event, according to Facebook.
Business owners say they have been struggling since a massive gas explosion ripped through 121 Second Ave. on March 26 and caused neighboring buildings to go up in flames. Authorities blocked off sections of Second Avenue to pedestrians and vehicles immediately after the blast.
Although the road and several sidewalks have reopened, mom-and-pop shops are still having trouble, according to business owners and employees who spoke with DNAinfo New York. The sidewalks are still blocked with barricades, which direct pedestrians away from the explosion site as investigators comb through the rubble and workers clear the scene.
“You see those barricades, you’re not going to walk down that block anymore,” said Theodos, who lives in the East Village.
Jessie Ballan, who opened Café Mocha across the street from the explosion site five years ago, said the explosion and street closures forced him to close for eight days. He reopened a week after the incident, but business has been down 50 percent since the incident, he said.
“Our area, it was fun area for people to walk, catch up, buy jewelry from St. Mark’s, potatoes from Pomme Frittes — it was a destination for people,” he said, “but then construction and noise keep people away.”
Ballan said he decided to take part in the crawl because “we have to.”
“We try to do anything to keep us in business,” he said.
