Results tagged “smallbusinesses”

The city’s commissioner of small business services says that he has not seen as high a concentration of local chains anywhere in the city outside of Smith Street in Brooklyn. The Times checks in on the Carroll/Cobble hub that includes the Franks, the "Stinky people," and the cluster of lifestyle businesses that have created an Area area. One owner says the street allows him to “tap into these customers in a variety of different ways.”

A three-alarm fire in the Bronx this morning took down nearly a dozen businesses. The blaze began inside Tavern on the Creek Bar in Westchester Square around 6 a.m. when it's believed that faulty electrical wires caught on fire. It rapidly spread through the ceiling to nearby businesses Square Flower Shop and National Coffee Shop among others. The owner of National, Mike Andreo, said, "They come, the fire department, they take everybody out, he told me, I say the fire is there, he told me kiss your store goodbye, I almost get a heart attack...I cry! What am I going to do!" The blaze took over 150 firefighters to put it out and FDNY said the lack of any serious injuries was incredibly fortunate (one firefighter did suffer minor injuries). Local City Councilman James Vacca pledged to help the businesses get back on their feet saying, "In this economy, we cannot afford to let them fail."

The City Council voted by an overwhelming margin to pass the bill requiring chain stores to shut their doors when their air conditioners are running, leaving many small business unhappy. Cookie Falack, the owner of six Cookie's clothing stores called it "anti-business" and claimed that when they closed their doors earlier this summer, business went down almost 25 percent. But Mayor Bloomberg is expected to sign the green initiative, saying "We are trying to take some reasonable measure to reduce energy consumption at a time when the systems are most strained."