As Costs Soar, Shops Serving Hunts Point Close
THE HUNTS POINT EXPRESS, published 1 December, 2008
Until last year, John Hyun used to get up at the crack of dawn and rush to Hunts Point Cooperative Market. Hyun would get fruit and vegetables, load his van and drive to his grocery store just north of Hunts Point.
What came next was the hard day of an immigrant who tries to build his way up in New York: a 12-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week marathon, day after day, spent moving sacks of potatoes and fulfilling the often unpredictable requests of old ladies.
“They’re never happy with the size of their apples,” said Hyun.
Now John Hyun, who has tiny, weathered hands, salt and pepper hair and a face that looks as it had been carved out of stone, still works 12-hour days, but he is no longer so frantically busy.
“I don’t have customers,” Hyun said. “I really hoped that as the schools opened in September, some mothers would show up and buy some good fruit for their kids, but I was wrong.”
Ten years after its opening, Hyun’s Big Brother Market, a small family-run produce shop at the corner of Westchester Avenue and Stratford Avenue, is likely to close after New Year.
The economic crisis that has affected New York and the nation in recent months has hit small business like Hyun’s hard. With rising rent, electric and heating bills, owners have faced an up-hill battle. The Big Brother Market is a portrait in miniature of these large-scale troubles, one of many Bronx businesses battered by forces beyond its control.
“After 9/11 everything went downhill,” Hyun said with a shrug.
Grocery markets are among the businesses most affected by skyrocketing oil prices, which has made transportation more expensive, driving up wholesale food prices, and has boosted utility bills, as well.
“Transportation became so expensive that some transportation companies even stopped serving our wholesale market, Hunts Point Cooperative Market,” said Hyun. “It is no longer convenient for them. So, while prices are going up, you have fewer choices, and quality is dropping.”
Five years ago, Hyun could buy a box of 80 Extra Fancy Washington apples or Golden Delicious apples for $15. Now he spends twice as much. A 40-pound box of bananas cost him $10 five years ago. Now he spends $17 to $18.
While the cost of doing business has risen, stores like Hyun’s find it hard to pass the increases on to their customers. When he raises prices, shoppers stop coming.
“Take Brazilian mangos,” said Hyun. “At the market they cost $8.50 to $9 for nine pounds. We use to resell two mangos for $1 last year. Now we sell one mango for $2.”
As dusk falls and it’s time to close the shop, Hyun goes home to start the worst part of his day—going through his bills. Squinting into the darkening shadows, he rummages through his papers and tries to make ends meet. His wife wants a flat screen television, but there’s a bill for $2,000 for his workers’ comp. It comes first.
When he started his business in 1998, Hyun paid $3,000 a month in rent. Now he pays more than twice as much. But Hyun singles out dramatically rising utility prices as the main culprit forcing him out of business.
“My summer electricity bill is $1,400,” Hyun said. “I’ve no clue about how can it be so high. It was one grand 10 years ago, and then we had air conditioning. Or just take the last water bill, $300 for one month. Are they kidding me? Just five years ago it used to be $200 for three months.”
Other businesses in the same block as The Big Brother Market are no better off.
“The increase of basic goods such as bread, milk and eggs put us on our knees,” said Ilyas Memon, the owner of 99 Cents World. “We used to give away two dozens of eggs for $1. Now you get only one dozen for $1.99. The same applies to milk. One gallon was $2.99. Now it is $3.99.”
Eateries on Westchester Avenue are experiencing hard times too. The owner of Danny’s Athens restaurant, said her profits have dwindled by more than 30 percent in the last seven years.
Lately, before going to bed, Hyun stares for a few seconds the bright red Christmas lights on the railings of his neighbor’s door and hopes that with the holiday season more customers will enter his shop to do what customers usually do–buy.
“Before people came to the shop to shop,” Hyun said laughing. “Now most folks come just to ask for prices.”