Although many memories from my childhood are hazy, I still recall frequently riding the Q58 to Main Street with my mother, siblings, and backpack. Growing up, I spent a considerable portion of my time in Flushing, mostly the Queens Library. We would walk to the Q58 stop in front of the small park, which was a few blocks away from our house, and commute to Flushing. That place was always packed with people, food shops, and store signs written in an unfamiliar language. Regardless of the language disparity, I savored all the places and moments on Main Street. After allotting a few hours to doing homework and reading books in the Library, we would shop for fresh fruits at one of the supermarkets- I always noted the assorted seafood in water-filled tanks. Lastly, a trip to Main Street was incomplete without the one dollar fifty cents veggie noodles from a shop.
When I revisited Main Street after a few years for this project, I determined that the ambiance was the exact same as I had left it- the multitude of stores, the lingering smell of food, the unreadable signs were all there. The entire neighborhood is made up of small businesses and chain stores, such as Macy’s and Starbucks. There is also an abundance of supermarkets and food shops. Particularly interesting are the bakeries, majority of which have their food laid out in a buffet style, rather than a traditional behind-the-counter setting. After taking in the sight of diverse products, and being rejected from a number of stores, we began walking in the lane of the large Macy’s department store (Roosevelt Avenue). We approached a dollar store and decided to inquire about it. It looked something like this:
Picture: Store sign
When initially looking at the dollar store, I observed the sign- three different price values and labels that read “Everything 99 cents or less” and “Everyday 99 cents or less”. I figured that the enormously written price values (99, 79, and 59 cents) were representing the fact that all products were less than a dollar. In addition, the backdrop of the sign had a silhouette of the City, possibly symbolizing that the store catered to everyone in New York City and cared about its needs.
While entering the store, it looked like a standard dollar store, its racks lined with coloring books, writing utensils, containers, liquid soaps, etc. There was an individual who was taking a look at the products for a second and hastily recording something in his notebook. He was the manager, doing his job. When asking the manager how long he had been working in the store, he replied eight years. He also mentioned that the store had been in business for fifteen years. This fact verified not only that the business was a survivor, but also that he was going to give an accurate picture and representation of the neighborhood and shop. He expanded, by telling us that a typical workday used to be from nine to nine, however it had changed from eleven to seven. Although I didn’t ask him why the timings had changed, I postulated that business was better during the latter hours.
Afterwards we questioned him based on his opinions about the dollar store. We asked what makes his business different from the surrounding businesses, to which he replied price and customer service. His statement reflected the sign of the store, which promised that all products would be ninety-nine cents and under. When asked how the business affects the area, he mentioned that it’s a convenient location for anyone who seeks to buy products from them. In addition, we inquired what his favorite part about working in Flushing was, and he responded “interacting with different people”. In a city like New York and neighborhood like Flushing, much of the places are defined by its diverse people. Therefore, it is plausible that the manager found it very fascinating to socialize with people of different ethnic backgrounds.
After all of these inquiries we wanted to find out how he and the store owner kept the business running for fifteen years. He pointed out that the store worked very hard trying to sell brand name products and quality products at a low price so that customers wouldn’t have to go so far to fulfill their needs. So far, all of the questions yielded positive, expected responses. However, when we asked the manager, “How would you imagine Flushing without your business?”, he answered, “It would be the same”. He added that with places like SkyView center two blocks down, the absence of their business wouldn’t matter in a large neighborhood such as Flushing. He explained that such was the case because the only difference between the two stores was that he did retail and SkyView did wholesale. This was surprising for us to hear because it showed that even though the business survived for fifteen years, the employees felt that its presence was important but its absence would not affect anything in the neighborhood.
As a closing question, we asked the manager to provide advice to future business owners. He mentioned “take care of your employees…if you take care of employees, employees will take care of business”. He explained that majority of the time store owners are not present to overlook the employees or help out the customers. Therefore, if the owner ensured that the employees were content, it would be good for business.
Coming to Flushing solely to explore the different types of businesses was not only a distinct experience but also a valuable one. My partner and I quickly learned that many workers were too busy to give an interview and others simply didn’t understand English enough. However, in the stores we interviewed we gained insight into how the businesses worked and how they felt in a diverse city like New York and populated neighborhood like Flushing.
