Holiday Shopping & Dining Guide • 2012
QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, December 6, 2012 Page 10
C M HOL SEC page 10rev Y K
H oliday Shopping & Dining Guide
Not a customer was stirring ... Facing tough economy, big rivals, merchants hope ‘shop local’ sticks by Joseph Orovic Assistant Managing Editor
ob Coccia sat at his in-store desk, past aisles made of stoves and ranges, with flat-panel televisions showing an army of Fox News’ Shepard Smith talking in unison. The phone was busy but the shop floor was empty. His eponymously named Appliance Center, at 215-03 Horace Harding Expressway, was devoid of customers. Usually is, Coccia said. “It’s been a tough run,” he said. “I’m just trying to survive the times.” The plight of Coccia, if it may be called that, is common among North Queens’ momand-pop merchants this holiday season. For all the bluster and emphasis on shopping local, entrepreneurs of all stripes from Flushing to Bayside are having trouble moving inventory and keeping their heads above water. Operations like Coccia’s have been acutely hit by the economic crunch and competition from online and big-box retailers. Why seek out a small shop with limited wares when a Best Buy or Target can cover most of your holiday gifts in one trip? It’s been bad before, but not this bad. “In the 1980s, the late ’80s, it was tough,” Coccia said. “I don’t think it was as bad as this though.” The mechanisms in place to push small businesses in the area have cranked up into gear and thrown a substantial amount of pageantry behind the concept of shopping locally. The Flushing Business Improvement District held its annual holiday lighting ceremony on Nov. 19, as elected leaders gathered in front of Macy’s on Roosevelt Avenue. A gaggle of elected officials, local merchants, and even a day care center chorus attended. “We’re trying to tell shoppers to stay local, support our local businesses,” said executive director of the BID Dian Yu. Shortly after kicking off the ceremony, Santa and Mr. Met made surprise appearances, giving a thumbs up throughout the proceedings.
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Flushing’s Business Improvement District held its holiday lighting on Nov. 19, part of an effort to PHOTO BY JOSEPH OROVIC boost shopping at local small businesses in the neigborhood.
State Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Flushing), Assemblywoman and Congresswoman-elect Grace Meng (D-Flushing) and Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) were all on hand to urge consumers to stay within the confines of their local ZIP code. “What are we going to tell our parents?” Koo asked the line of children assembled before him. “To shop local!” Bayside’s equivalent Business Improvement District has a whole host of events and specials it holds annually, with the similar goal of propping up its members and promoting commerce in the area. This Saturday, Dec. 8, it will hold its final Sidewalk Sale of 2012, with merchants putting their wares out for holiday shoppers. That same evening, the BID will host a holiday ceremony on Bell Boulevard, with a Christmas tree and menorah lighting. Elected officials will also be on hand, touting the same message to shop locally and support small businesses. While the rhetoric and strong presence cannot hurt, many along North Queens’ shopping strips are in need of something closer to a Christmas miracle, and not a lump of holiday coal. Raj Sawlani, owner of the Bayside Smoke Shop at 41-05 Bell Blvd., has found while the festive lights continue to burn, fewer customers are lighting up, especially since the economy went bust in 2008. “It’s a big impact, last two years, business has been down,” he said. Breakdown Records has been in existence for 25 years, experiencing Sawlani’s business has both ups and downs. But now the store has largely become a storage been open for 30 years, COURTESY PHOTO 26 of which were run space for an inventory that has gone online.
with vinyl discs that are now retro-chic to a young hipster crowd in burgeoning parts of Western Queens, like Astoria and Sunnyside. Cascella’s shop? It’s at 48-09 Bell Blvd., which requires at least one free MetroCard transfer to get to, unless you live close enough to walk anyway. It’s been there for 25 years. Breakdown Records has had to survive by modernizing its storefront, essentially taking it online. An eBay store and several other electronic retail outlets act as a conduit for collectors and audiophiles looking for that Led Zeppelin record to complete their collection. Breakdown has to enter that milieu and try to stand out. The online customers pay about $10 on average for Breakdown’s records. Making the trek to Bayside may be worth the trip, since you can get six records for the same price if you buy them in-store. But few do anymore. It’s not like it was years ago, before iPhones and online downloads killed the need to deploy physical energy to buy music. “Christmastime there used to be a line around the corner,” Cascella said, pointing to a barren streetscape with minimal passersby. Part of the problem is his ZIP code. “A place like this would thrive in Astoria,” he said. But few are contemplating moving. Too costly, not worth the hassle, why bother. The cigar boxes, online sales and circulars are helpful. And for Coccia’s appliance store, a largely unwelcome boost came in the shape of Hurricane Sandy, which flooded southern Queens. Used to be Coccia mostly sold ranges and big screen TVs. Now he’s seeing an uptick in demand for laundry machines, kitchen ranges and refrigerators. “I hate to be a vulture,” he said, admitting some guilt at potentially profiting from the storm. He keeps his prices as low as he can for those affected by the hurricane. “I work with the customers, always, to try to help them out.” Coccia admitted slow business is a constant complaint, and one he’s been trying to avoid. “You get into the habit of saying ‘Things are bad’ all the time, then one day you look and realize you’ve been saying that for years,” he said. “It’s gonna be just a matter of time and things will turn around.” i
under the auspices of his father. The 26-yearold inherited a wealth of knowledge about shopping habits and how to best meet customers halfway. Some come in already knowing their friend’s or family member’s favorite cigar, plop down the cash and leave, Sawlani said. The non-cognoscenti sheepishly enter asking what’s a good brand to buy, seeking recommendations. For them, gift boxes with assorted cigars, cutters, lighters and other works are available. But none of the sales offerings negate prices inflated by state taxes, to the tune of 75 percent on the wholesale price of cigars. “Taxes are what’s killing everything,” Sawlani said. “We’re still doing business, but it’s not like it used to be.” For Sawlani’s cigar shop and other businesses that have seen a few decades stretch by, there’s a tendency to reminisce about the good old days. Times when lines would stretch to the door, and shelves were hard to keep stocked. They’ll tell you they’re surviving now. Through resourcefulness, belt tightening and rock-bottom pricing, they’re surviving. But the shopping bags touted along Main Street in Flushing and around Bay Terrace include names like Target, Best Buy, The Gap and Express. Ask shoppers passing by where they’ll be doing their holiday shopping this year, and they’ll likely name a publicly traded company. It’s enough to make Anthony Cascella’s days even more hectic. He owns a record shop, Breakdown Records, a living relic to a bygone era when music was ungainly, time-consuming and far from A common sight: the aisles of Bob Coccia’s Appliance Store are PHOTO BY JOSEPH OROVIC portable. Shelves are stocked full of wares, awaiting customers.