Highbrow Magazine - chinese immigrants https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/chinese-immigrants en Manhattan’s Chinatown Struggles for Survival https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4321-manhattan-s-chinatown-struggles-survival <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 09/25/2014 - 11:17</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1nycchinatown%20%28wiki%29_0.jpg?itok=W1EHvmCf"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1nycchinatown%20%28wiki%29_0.jpg?itok=W1EHvmCf" width="480" height="321" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>The real problem of Manhattan’s Chinatown isn’t that its streets are crowded. It’s that its businesses aren’t crowded enough.</p> <p> </p> <p>Despite the seemingly endless array of purse, jewelry and clothing salesmen in Manhattan’s Chinatown, longtime businesses are struggling to make it with increasing rents and lack of loyal clientele.</p> <p> </p> <p>With other Chinatowns in Brooklyn and Queens, Chinatown’s survival in Manhattan is in question. Many <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzhou">Fuzhou</a> immigrants are living in places like Sunset Park and Bensonhurst in Brooklyn and Jackson Heights and Flushing in Queens, where they can have a taste of home and pay a lot less rent. Immigrants moving in means authentic restaurants are plentiful in these communities.</p> <p> </p> <p>Manhattan’s Chinatown is often associated with knock-off designer goods on packed streets. It’s the place to bargain for a new pair of sunglasses or shop for cheap scarves and hats on Canal Street. It’s also a place for chefs to find ingredients and kitchenware at delightfully dirt-cheap prices.</p> <p> </p> <p>Though restaurants line the small streets of Chinatown, many are suffering from lack of regular customers. Though often labeled as a “touristy” area, the tourists aren’t enough to sustain Chinatown.</p> <p> </p> <p>“There’s recognition from all sides that something needs to be done to this fragile community,” Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership, said. “There was a series of things that caused us to be in a steep valley and we need to climb out of it.”</p> <p> </p> <p>That series included 9/11, Hurricane Irene in 2011, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Chinatown Partnership “grew out of the ashes of September 11,” Chen said. It officially launched in 2006, and the organization’s office was in Chelsea for its first two years.</p> <p> </p> <p>If a Chinatown organization can’t afford Chinatown’s rents, “what option does a mom and pop who don’t know English have?” Chen said.</p> <p> </p> <p>Chen predicts the Chinese population in Manhattan’s Chinatown has dropped by 18 percent, while the overall Chinese influx to the city has risen by 33 percent. This points toward the outer boroughs. Thirteen years ago, Manhattan’s Chinatown reigned, he said.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2nychinatown.jpg" style="height:469px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>The <a href="http://www.nycgo.com/venues/official-nyc-information-center-chinatown">Official NYC Chinatown Kiosk</a> at Baxter and Canal Street will soon be demolished due to budget cuts.</p> <p> </p> <p>A similar situation took over Little Italy about 20 years ago, Chen said.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Little Italy once was 50 blocks,” he said.</p> <p> </p> <p>The folks in Little Italy have been particularly helpful in trying to keep Chinatown alive, Chen added.</p> <p> </p> <p>“We are trying to fight a very difficult fight. We’re not here to rock the boat or start a revolution; we are just trying to make this community last.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Chinatown has an amazing array of food options. Aside from restaurants, Chinatown’s grocery stores are a fun scene, with cheap ingredients and fresh fish and meat being sold on the bustling streets.</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://yayatea.com/">Yaya Tea Garden</a>, 51 Chrystie St., has been in Chinatown since 2008. Owner Mindy Chung said the business has gained a lot of regulars, including a lot of fans from Bensonhurst. The store will open its second location in Bensonhurst within a couple months, she said.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Our regular customers are super excited that we’re gonna be here,” Chung said.</p> <p> </p> <p>The future of its Chinatown location, however, is uncertain, as the landlord plans to tear down the building or increase the rent. Three businesses on nearby Hester Street have recently closed, she said.</p> <p> </p> <p>Their customers will definitely welcome them in Bensonhurst, she said, and they will be right next to an Italian community.</p> <p> </p> <p>“It’s a very peaceful environment;that’s why I wanted to go there,” she said.</p> <p> </p> <p>When Christina Choung was growing up in Allentown, Pa., her family visited Chinatown for family birthdays and holidays.</p> <p> </p> <p>“When I was little we would go to the same place for dim sum,” Choung said. “I remember it closed and we found another place, then that place closed. My impression of it was things closed. There are fewer dim sum restaurants in Chinatown now than there used to be.”</p> <p> </p> <p>For those unfamiliar, Chinatown can be intimidating and confusing. The Chinatown Partnership is trying to make that easier by adding guideposts to help visitors see the street signs at night. <a href="http://chinatownchowdown.com/">Chinatown Chowdown</a> is an app that helps point out some good spots.</p> <p> </p> <p>Navigating Chinatown requires “a certain sense of adventure,” Choung said.</p> <p><br /> “Signs aren’t always translated. You would have to do your research more,” she said.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/3nychinatown.jpg" style="height:472px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><br /> <strong><em>Beth Kaiserman is</em> Highbrow Magazine’s <em>chief food critic.</em></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinatown" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinatown</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-yorks-chinatown" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new york&#039;s chinatown</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-immigrants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese immigrants</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-americans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese americans</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-restaurants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese restaurants</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-foods" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese foods</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-retailers" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese retailers</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/high-rents" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">high rents</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-york-city" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">New York City</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Beth Kaiserman</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wikipedia Commons; Google Images</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 25 Sep 2014 15:17:18 +0000 tara 5232 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4321-manhattan-s-chinatown-struggles-survival#comments High Rents Force New York Chinatown Retailers to Seek Out Other Locations https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4157-high-rents-force-new-york-chinatown-retailers-seek-out-other-locations <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 07/21/2014 - 11:40</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1nycchinatown%20%28wiki%29.jpg?itok=G5sQA1YY"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1nycchinatown%20%28wiki%29.jpg?itok=G5sQA1YY" width="480" height="321" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/07/high-rents-push-nycs-chinatown-merchants-to-think-creatively.php">From Sing Tao Daily</a> and our content partner New America Media:</p> <p> </p> <p>NEW YORK CITY -- On a recent steamy Sunday afternoon, Mr. Chen, a shop owner in Chinatown, was watching the intense final game of the World Cup. But, he had to do it on the small screen of his cellphone, because his shop is not big enough to squeeze in even the tiniest TV set.</p> <p> </p> <p>Chen doesn’t know how many square feet his shop has, but if he stretches his arms out, he could touch the walls on both sides. He sells everything from phone cards to bottled water, and his goods are either hung on the walls from the floor to the ceiling or piled on the counter outside of the window.</p> <p> </p> <p>“This might be the tiniest convenience store in Chinatown,” Chen said.</p> <p> </p> <p>Elsewhere in the city, this may not even be called a shop. It is basically a makeshift closet built under the Manhattan Bridge. Separated from the street by only a thin metal board, it is hotter than the street in the summer and colder in the winter. Subway trains running on the bridge wrap the shop in deafening rumbles that hurt Chen’s ears. But, for $1,000 per month, doubled from a decade ago, this is the only place he can afford in Chinatown.</p> <p> </p> <p>Just a few blocks north of Chen’s crammed shop is a different world. Ten or so spacious storefronts are completely empty, with “for rent” banners on the awnings covered in dust. Some of them have been left like that for more than a year, as new tenants can’t afford the increased rents after former tenants are pushed out.</p> <p> </p> <p>Thanks to skyrocketing rents in recent years, this eerie contrast – shops crammed into tiny spaces next door to vacancies of spacious storefronts -- has become a fixed image in Chinatown. Small businesses are struggling to make ends meet, and residents are worried the neighborhood with more than a hundred years of history may be sunsetting.</p> <p> </p> <p>Small businesses in the neighborhood have had their share of ups and downs. After 9/11, Chinatown merchants suffered a big drop in clientele, and some feared the neighborhood would not recover. Two years ago, a Business Improvement District (BID) was formed – charging businesses fees for services such as street cleaning – in an effort to give retailers a much-needed boost. Businesses have started to recover, but despite a rebounding real estate market in Lower Manhattan, Chinatown retailers are still struggling.</p> <p> </p> <p>High rents have already forced small entrepreneurs to think creatively and utilize every inch of possible (and impossible) space. And, now the Chinatown BID, a public-private partnership facilitating local business development, plans to go even further: To fight against the high rents, the organization plans to buy up vacant spaces and turn itself into a landlord.</p> <p> </p> <p>In its heyday, Chinatown rarely had any vacant storefronts, forcing tenants and businesses to think creatively. Any space that would allow one person to stand was turned into a commercial rental. Diminutive shops like Chen’s could be seen everywhere.</p> <p> </p> <p>Those who occupied bigger spaces often sublet out to other businesses to ease the rental pressure as well as to share customers. For example, the shop at 244 Grand Street houses four different businesses: Forever Health Pharmacy, Good Luck Jade, Crystal and Craft, and an AAE delivery counter.</p> <p> </p> <p>Before, merchants like Chen would have opted for a smaller space because of a lack of vacancies; now, they’re renting tiny spaces, because that’s all they can afford with soaring rents for commercial spaces. According to the Downtown Alliance, a business development organization, the cost of retail space on the lower Broadway corridor jumped 41 percent last year to $280 per square foot, an increase that more than doubled the 16 percent jump of the city’s average.</p> <p> </p> <p>Qitan Liu, who owns a delivery shop at 150 East Broadway, pays $3,600 a month in rent. His lease expires in August, and he says he’s worried his landlord will raise the rent, forcing him to move out of the space that he’s been in for 10 years. The two shops adjacent to his have already been pushed out and the spaces are open for rent. The one on his right has been vacant for two years.</p> <p> </p> <p>“The landlord would rather leave it empty and wait for a preferable tenant than lower the price,” said Liu.</p> <p> </p> <p>“High rent is fatal to the economy in Chinatown,” said Wellington Chen, who heads the Chinatown Business Improvement District. But to him, the vacant shops also offer a good opportunity for a renaissance.</p> <p> </p> <p>Chen explained that a major reason for the rental increases is higher property taxes. Many Chinatown buildings are mixed-use with residential apartments under rent regulations by the authorities. So the landlords have to shift the taxes to the commercial tenants, he said. But BID as a nonprofit organization is exempt from paying property taxes.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2nycchinatown%20%28wiki%29.jpg" style="height:469px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>If the landlords of the vacant properties join the BID to form a co-op type property trust, he says, they might have to give up some privileges of full ownership, but they will be able to take advantage of the tax exemption and rent the spaces out to small businesses with long-term stable rent.</p> <p> </p> <p>Chen says the model, inspired by the artists’ co-ops in New York, has never been tried by any business organization as far as he knows.</p> <p> </p> <p>“It will take some time to persuade the city government because our plan may cost the city some tax revenues. But this is the best solution so far,” said Chen.</p> <p> </p> <p>Margaret Chin, the councilmember whose district includes Chinatown, is supportive.</p> <p> </p> <p>Chin said Chen’s idea is worth trying. “Solving this problem needs the efforts of all stakeholders in the community, and it needs some creative thinking,” said Chin.</p> <p> </p> <p>But for Meirong Song, the owner of a flower shop in Chinatown, says she doesn’t think Chen’s plan will work.</p> <p> </p> <p>When Song opened her shop at a booth in the Triple Eight Palace in 1992, her rent was $1,000 per month. In her last five-year lease, she paid $3,000 per month. But when the lease expired last year, the landlord wanted to raise the monthly rent to $12,000. So Song had to move out of the space she had occupied for more than 20 years, and into a tiny basement on the same street that costs $1,000 per month.</p> <p> </p> <p>Song said she desperately needs a stable rent, but “the BID’s idea won’t work.” Song said many property owners in Chinatown purchased their properties decades ago. They have paid off the mortgages and have no financial pressure. “They won’t have incentives to form a co-op,” said Song.</p> <p> </p> <p>Song has her own idea to lower her rent, and it can be summarized in one word: escape.</p> <p> </p> <p>“I may soon move to Flushing or Brooklyn,” she said. “I have given up on Chinatown in my heart.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Rong Xiaoqing is a reporter with Sing Tao.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em>This story was supported through a New America Media/Wells Fargo small business reporting fellowship.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/07/high-rents-push-nycs-chinatown-merchants-to-think-creatively.php">From Sing Tao Daily</a> and our content partner New America Media</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-york" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new york</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinatown" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinatown</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinatown-stores" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinatown stores</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-york-chinatown" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new york chinatown</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinese</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-immigrants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese immigrants</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-americans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese americans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/retail" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">retail</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/rents" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">rents</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/soaring-rents" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">soaring rents</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Rong Xiaoqing</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wikipedia Commons; Google Images</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 21 Jul 2014 15:40:55 +0000 tara 4979 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4157-high-rents-force-new-york-chinatown-retailers-seek-out-other-locations#comments