Posts under ‘Community Business Story’

On the outside, there is nothing to distinguish Al’s Shoe Repair from the Cards Unlimited store next to it, or the Thai Station Restaurant and Elena Bridal Couture directly across Merrick Avenue in Merrick, Long Island, all of which have almost identical off-white store fronts and green store signs. Inside, Al’s Shoe Repair is small, [...]

With only a few feet between the counter and the wall, you may have to squeeze by a small family to get a seat in the back. However, as local residents proclaim, the effort is worth the reward; this pizza is too special to walk and eat for the first time. Sacco’s Pizza’s claim to neighborhood [...]

Wonderland: an imaginary land of marvels, and strange beauty. The grinning Cheshire cat, the crazy Mad Hatter, and the overbearing Queen of Hearts; children and adults all over the world can rarely forget the story of Alice in Wonderland. From the mystical creatures, to imaginative adventures, Alice’s fateful fall down a rabbit hole brought fantasy [...]

It’s ten o’clock on a chilly October morning, and all is quiet on the streets that border Coney Island’s beach. The shops along Surf Avenue, with their brightly painted signs hawking various treats, are shuttered. Apart from a trickle of pedestrians that wander in and out of the smattering of convenience stores, the area has [...]

Past Hot Shot Photo and Video Studio, and just before Pizza Park on Avenue U, is a most enticing aroma. It fills the senses and the mind with thoughts of dough rising to a peak, and the buttery batter of cookies waiting to be baked to perfection. A red awning stands above the sidewalk, proclaiming [...]

A faded jade green sign with mustard yellow letters Don Enterprises hangs above a store window in Chinatown, a remnant of a time passed.  Presently,  an emerald green awning hangs gallantly under the Don Enterprises sign, with the name Pearl of the Orient.  The store window of Pearl of the Orient is decorated with a [...]

In neat rows of soil that dance around immovable objects, a ventilation duct here, a water tower there, Brooklyn Grange Farm, located on the roof of the building at 37-18 Northern Boulevard, gives birth to hearty greens and juicy tomatoes, among other vegetables, thanks to the owner and farmer Ben Flanner and a host of [...]

Nigerian disco, garage, and reggae line the grungy walls of Academy Records Annex. From the boxes slowly imploding on the floor, to the racks suffocated with records above, and even the posters on the walls this is surely a music mecca. Tigger, the shop’s watch cat, saunters over by your ankles as you browse the [...]

Outside New York City, the small town hardware store contains racks of sharpened saws, columns of hefty hammers and shelves of potent power tools to satisfy every homeowner’s need. Entire walls are dedicated to a multitude of nuts, nails, bolts, screws, washers and other knickknacks and a selection of hosing, lighting and lumber. Lumber cannot [...]

At the corner of East Tremont, a small shop has catered to many textures of hair—straight, curly, dread locks, braids, and waves. From a distance, on the East Tremont strip of small delis, markets, discount stores and salons, the M&M Pelham Manor Barber shop cannot be missed. With its offbeat pinstripe design of red, blue [...]

On the weekends, this bar is packed wall to wall with a diverse collection of Crown Heights residents. It is more than just a bar however—it is Franklin Park, the official beer garden of Crown Heights. Differing from most bars and even most beer gardens, Franklin Park offers more than just beer.  Dutch Boy Burgers–homage [...]