Boarded-Up SoHo Stores Still Eager To Reopen Next Week, BP Says
DOWNTOWN, MANHATTAN — Even as they shut their doors for months as New York City fought the coronavirus pandemic, local Manhattan businesses resisted boarding up their stores in a symbolic message of hope to their neighborhoods.
"Business Improvement Districts have been saying to stores: Please don't put plywood up because we're going to reopen soon," Borough President Gale Brewer said. "...There was so much effort to keep it upbeat."
The few that did cover their windows painted murals, letting neighbors know they were still there.
But that all changed this week, Brewer said, when looters capitalizing on peaceful police brutality protests began ravaging the storefronts.
"Within 24 hours, everything became plywood," said Brewer, who toured the Meatpacking District and SoHo this week.
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(Courtesy of Manhattan Borough President's Office).
The nights of violence, largely centered on the lower half of the borough, came just a week before many of the retail establishments were set to open their doors again. The city is slated to start phase one of reopening, including retail pick-ups, on June 8.
In SoHo, just between Houston and Canal streets on Broadway, 37 retail spots had been damaged as of Wednesday, whether it be broken glass to a fully shattered storefront, according to the SoHo Broadway Initiative.
19 of those stores have had merchandise stolen at least once and 80 percent of all retail businesses on that stretch of the corridor are now boarded up, Executive Director Mark Dicus told Patch.
(Courtesy of SoHo Broadway Initiative.)
The damage is also extensive in other parts of SoHo, like Mercer, Prince, Greene, Spring and Grand streets, though the BID doesn't cover those areas, Dicus said.
The looters also damaged more than 20 businesses just within the Meatpacking District, according to the BID there.
Brewer said the looting attacks — which both police and officials have confirmed are largely separate from peaceful protests spurred by the death of George Floyd — have started to dwindle given an 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew first imposed Tuesday.
The curfew has created some of its own problems, including mass arrests of protesters out past the 8 p.m. cut-off and confusion about essential workers' ability to move around.
But, Brewer said specifically its ban on most cars below 96th Street in Manhattan has at least helped in deterring looters from breaking into businesses.
"There were still a couple of incidents, but still dramatically less than the night before," she said about Tuesday, the first night of the curfew. "Cars were a big problem. The ones who were looting were covering over license plates or found a way to make them impossible to read."
Still, even for those not dealing with extensive repairs, the thousands of dollars to simply put up protective plywood has become yet another financial strain, Brewer said.
"That cost is not insignificant for a mom and pop store that has been out for two and a half months," the borough president said.
Brewer said the businesses are still navigating how their reopening might be altered given the repairs.
Both BIDs told Patch that there aren't many details yet on how the damage might impact businesses' plans to reopen. Dicus added that discussing recovery is premature until the unrest fully subsides.
On Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio laid out at least one resource for the businesses to rebound. The city and SOMOS Community Care set up a $500,000 fund for business grants for repairs, security systems, locks and other help.
Brewer added that, even with potential delays or altered plans, business owners are eager to find a way.
"Merchants I spoke to absolutely want to get back in business," Brewer said. "They want to get going despite plywood, despite everything...they really want to open."
This article originally appeared on the West Village Patch
