Out of the R-train onto 86th Street stands a proud model of American consumerism. People bustle out of the multilevel Foot Locker, their arms full of pink Lacrosse sticks and football helmets. A couple of feet away a boy rushes out of the Gamestop, his hands occupied with a new PS4 and a bag full of games. The neighborhood could be a poster child for New York Diversity, with people from every walk of life forming the consumer base that powers these corporate giants. A couple of blocks down and this dynamic quickly begins to change.

The big-name stores begin to die out, the stores become smaller, the names unfamiliar. The image of diversity begin to shatter, the people from every walk of life starting to self-segregate into individual shops. What at first seems to be a conglomerate of random small businesses soon makes way to the truth of 5th avenue.The stores are not grouped together coincidentally but by ethnicity. The largest ethnic conclave seems to cater to a Middle Eastern population. Names like Turkish Kabab, Tarboush lounge, and Al Salam Restaurant begin to dominate the blocks, with signs either translated into English, written in Arabic, or both.  The smell of raw meats and pickled vegetables from self-authorized “halal” markets lingers in the air, letting no secret as to the target audience.   

But not all of the businesses are owned by Middle Eastern families. On the corner of 76th Street and 5th Ave stands a brick shop with a bright neon sign for the name: Jean Danet Pastry. It is not a traditional Middle Eastern establishment. Customers get instantly hit with the smell of freshly baked goods as they enter the shop through its glass door. The smell of eclairs, cannolis, cookies, cakes, and bread is omnipresent inside the shop. Once inside the store, a customer is almost guaranteed to start salivating at the idea of eating these foods. There is a small dining area consisting of 5 two seater tables and chairs at the front of the shop to the right. On the left side of the store are multiple glass cases filled with pastries that ran from near the very front, where the register is located, to the back. Behind them is a gap for the workers to move around and against the left wall is a cabinet with metal shelves to hold bread and trays above it. The owner works in the back of the shop, making the pastries himself, while his workers manned the counter and register.

The owner, Pat Giura, comes out to meet us, his hands slightly caked with dough. A native “Brooklynite,” he lives a mere six minutes away from his shop, making his daily commute very manageable. It’s a walk he’s been making for 18 years, not something easily gleaned from a store that looks so new. Photographic documentation though proves the store’s age. A photo of 7526 5th Ave Brooklyn, NY from 1980 reveals that the shop’s building has undergone minimal changes.A pastry shop was first opened up in 1960, which explains why the 1980 photo shows a store sign with “French Pastries” written on it. It was then bought and taken over by Pat Giura, who left the store name and original recipes the same.

Being no stranger to running a bakery certainly helped, with his father owning Savarese bakery, a shop that’s been open for over one hundred years. “He’s been there since 1961,” Pat tells us. With this background in mind, Pat decided that he would much rather run a business than attend college.At the age of eighteen, he helped run his father’s bakery and four years later he opened up Jean Danet Pastry with his father as a co-owner. Pat, however, stresses the fact that he runs the store himself. While the shops are each two separate unaffiliated businesses, they do find it useful to collaborate at times. Jean Danet Pastry specializes in danishes and custom cakes(among other things), at times sending them over to Savarese bakery in exchange for bread and Italian biscuits. According to Pat, this allows mutually beneficial relationships, where the shops can specialize while maximizing output with each of their resources.

Regardless of where the goods come from, Pat’s customers don’t seem to mind. There aren’t many tourists in Bay Ridge and so the shop depends on the local customers, and often times those local customers become regulars.

“A lot of people know me by name,” he says. And it’s a satisfying feeling, one of the reasons Pat’s been able to do his job for the past 18 years. But it’s a feeling that’s been harder and harder to maintain and its impact on the business can be felt. Sources outside of Pat’s hands, like a demographic shift in the neighborhood and a changing economy, have made running the business harder.

And it’s a shift that Pat has personally seen. The business’ customers, he says used to be “Upper middle class, middle class, doctors, and lawyers that practiced their businesses around here, white collar professionals. They were predominantly Scandinavian, Irish, and Norwegian.”  Pat also added, “As a matter of fact, we had one of the only Norwegian day parades down 5th Ave.” It is in this 5th avenue that Jean Danet Pastry thrived.

However, the demographics have lately been working against the bakery. The percent of people that adhere to the Catholic religion in the area has decreased from 35.08% in 1990 to 8.249% in 2010. This decrease helps explain why Pat has seen a decrease in the number of customers since the followers of that religion tend to prefer his goods more than those of different religions. Combined with an increase in the number of foreign-born individuals in the area from 2000 to 2014, specifically from the Middle East( including places such as Egypt, Western Asia, and South Central) and it’s easy to see why Pat’s business has been struggling.

Census statistics of the area corroborate Pat’s interpretation of the shift. The surrounding census tracts, or group of blocks, indicate that the demographic shift has been significant. Within census tract 134,there was an increase in the percentage of foreign-born people from Egypt from 2.96% to 5.00%. In that same tract, the number of foreign-born individuals drastically increased from 661 to 1,341. Census tract 124 had an increase of 5.43% to 11.63% of residents that were born in Egypt. Similarly, Census tracts 142 saw an increase in Egyptian-born residents from 9.67% to 12.83% and western Asian people from 7.22% to 10.48% (Social Explorer). These changes in demographics can negatively impact Pat’s business as he told us since these foreigners do not have as high of a demand for French pastries as the traditional Scandinavian and Irish people.

Pat tried to counteract this demographic shift and  attract new customers by adding a brick oven to make pizzas and by also adding a cappuccino machine. But with the decline of the economy, he had to make some cuts and decided to get rid of the brick oven pizza reserving his money for the bakery portion, which is the real “money maker.”

Pat also complains about the health regulations, traffic regulations, and other regulations. He says that the while the health regulations are necessary, they can sometimes be a bit overbearing. He also complains about the fact that in the summer, he has to pay for a permit to place a little table outside his store to try and attract more customers. If he doesn’t get a permit and he places a table out there, then he will get a fine. Likewise, he explains that the parking meters on the street cause a problem since people are too scared to leave their cars for a few minutes to run in and get something. Therefore, they just don’t stop to come in and try to look for a place with parking.

But many of these issues are outside of Pat’s hands.Which is why in the future he doesn’t plan on making any significant changes. He just hopes to keep going as he has been while still remaining afloat. Pat said that he is considering selling smoothies in the summer to try and attract more customers. While he wouldn’t mind opening another business, tying his future with the food business seems unlikely. When asked if he would open another pastry shop he replied with a strong “No.” That is because he believes that the food business is tough due to the high amounts of strict regulations. He hopes to pursue his hobbies which include something fish related. He said that he would like to open some type of fish store since he loves them so much. Hopefully, his next endeavors become a little bit less of a gamble than the food industry.

After talking with Pat, we will not take for granted the small businesses that we constantly pass by without giving much thought to. Behind every one of those small businesses is an owner facing similar struggles as Pat and trying their hardest to stay open.

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