Two weeks after the pandemic’s first lockdowns began in March, officials in the borough of Westwood, N.J., came together to plan for a huge economic crisis — one the World Bank predicted would turn into “the deepest recession since the Second World War.”
Soon, merchants and residents in the Bergen County commuter enclave off the Garden State Parkway were shooting a television commercial marketing the town as “open.” The goal was to encourage people throughout the region to visit, but also to remind Westwood residents who had once done their shopping in New York City but were now stuck at home that they could turn to local businesses.
When the region began to reopen in May — a full month before New York City — businesses in the New Jersey suburbs noticed an uptick in sales that was even bigger than the seasonal increases they had seen in pre-pandemic summers.
The pandemic has led businesses all over New York and New Jersey to close up shop, and by one estimate permanently shuttered nearly 100,000 businesses nationally. But in the New York City suburbs, some small-business owners say they are finding a way forward, through customers who are suddenly spending a lot more time — and money — in the communities where they live.
At Wilson & Son Jewelers in Westchester County, N.Y., just north of New York City, the owners, Matthew and Michael Wilson, said people who lived nearby have recently become customers at their shop.
“They’re working from home now,” Matthew Wilson said. “They’re ‘discovering’ us after 115 years of operation.”
Lillian Pien, a Queens native, and her husband, James Du, own three Akai Lounge sushi restaurants — two in the New Jersey suburbs, and a third, which opened in October in Scarsdale, in Westchester County.
The couple closed a branch of Akai Lounge in Manhattan in 2011, finding stronger and steadier support in the suburbs. “It’s the mom that’s on the soccer field telling the other moms how great you are,” Ms. Pien said. “Somebody posted about us on a Scarsdale mom page and the day after we saw a huge spike in our business.”
Roughly 40 percent of Westchester residents work outside the county, according to 2017 data from the U.S. Census Bureau; more than half of those work in Manhattan. But 2020 was not 2017: Some 90 percent of Manhattan’s office employees have not returned to work, a survey by the Partnership for New York City found in October.
In Westchester, home to nearly a million people, tens of thousands are no longer commuting into the city every day. For suburban businesses that has meant new customers.
Repeat business is particularly important for small businesses in the suburbs, and some are finding that customers who came in for the first time during the pandemic are coming back. At the same time, many longtime customers are being extra supportive during this difficult time.
Rothmans, a men’s wear boutique with three locations, has seen steady business at its store in Bronxville in Westchester. Rothmans flagship store in Union Square, on the other hand, has seen a significant drop in revenue.
“The local community is making a concerted effort to come together and support their local businesses,” said Kenneth Giddon, who owns Rothmans with his brother Jim Giddon.
Stu Seltzer and his wife, Danielle, recently headed to the Rothmans in Scarsdale to buy a pair of jeans. “We come over here from Mamaroneck to support Ken,” Mr. Seltzer said. “My suits are 80 to 90 percent from this store.”
Gina Savastano, who used to shop on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, where she works, has taken to more local options since the pandemic began. Back in May, after lockdown orders were lifted, she heard about Be Present, a gift shop in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., where she lives.
The store, which she heard about through a neighbor and a town Facebook group, was away from the area’s main shopping corridor, but a sale of 40 percent off all toys drew her attention. On her first visit, she purchased toys to occupy her two children. She has since gone back more than 10 times, she said, to buy gifts for friends’ engagements and birthdays.
“I never even knew it was here before,” she said. “Now it’s a go-to, and you feel like you’re helping the community by shopping local.”
But support from patrons like Ms. Savastano was not enough for Be Present, which has plans to permanently shut its doors sometime this year. Across New Jersey, about a third of small businesses closed in 2020, according to TrackTheRecovery.org, a Harvard University project that is monitoring the pandemic’s economic effects.
Though it’s not yet clear how many businesses in Westchester have closed during the pandemic, many have reported steep losses in revenue, according to data provided by the county’s economic development officials.
The businesses in the New York City suburbs that are staying afloat, however, attribute their survival to successful pandemic-era pivots, loyal customer bases and changes in consumer appetite for certain goods and services.
Mike Fitzsimmons, owner of Westwood Art Gallery and secretary for the Westwood Chamber of Commerce in Bergen County, N.J., has seen an increased demand in artwork framing services.
Customers are hoping to make their living spaces more attractive and comfortable, Mr. Fitzsimmons said, and some now have the extra money, time and impetus to invest in such changes.
“They looked at the same four walls for four months,” Mr. Fitzsimmons said of his customers. “They had money in their pocket, didn’t take that family vacation, which might be a decent sum, and they weren’t traveling, were not commuting.”
Others have found new walls to decorate, making their way out of the city and into the suburbs.
By May of last year, five percent of New Yorkers had already fled their New York City homes, relocating either permanently or temporarily. In July, data from Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants found that home sales in suburban counties surrounding the city had increased 44 percent compared with the previous year.
Henry Cabral, owner of the restaurant Tarry Tavern in Tarrytown, N.Y., has observed people from the New York City region moving into his town and the surrounding areas. And even with many of the historic sites in Tarrytown now closed, he said, day tripping has also increased as pandemic fatigue has set in and people have slowly begun to emerge from their homes.
“I think they want to get out of their town a little bit,” Mr. Cabral said.
And though the out-of-towners have provided his restaurant with a much-needed infusion of revenue, according to Mr. Cabral, it is the unwavering support of local customers that has kept Tarry Tavern’s doors open.
“We have to thank our loyal following,” Mr. Cabral said. “Those were longtime customers.”