I went to Jackson Heights to interview owners of small businesses. Nicole Rojas and I met up at 82nd street and Roosevelt and as we walked down searching for shops, I felt nostalgic. I use to live in this area when I was younger walking down the same street, seeing women barbecuing corn, little shops selling various types of trinkets, and groups of people speed-walking to wherever they needed to go. Located in Queens, Jackson Heights encompasses the area within Northern Boulevard, Roosevelt Avenues, Junction Boulevard, and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Jackson Heights is one of the most diverse places in New York with Mexican groceries on one side of the street and Chinese supermarkets on the other. One can pass by a Bengali, Filipino, Colombian, or Korean shops, bars, salons, and restaurants. While I reminisced about my childhood, I recognize places that have gone and stayed. Some stores have been taken over by Dunkin’ Donuts, Kung Fu Tea, Payless, and other chain stores. However, mom and pop shops like Coral Aquarium and Pet Center have managed to stay. From the 1943 New York Market analysis, this image shows a 37th Avenue and 82nd street view (top) and a 34th Avenue between 76th and 77th view of Jackson heights (bottom). There were several shops lining the streets as well as apartment buildings.

Coral Aquarium and Pet Center, located on Roosevelt Avenue in between 75th and 76th street, stands out from other shops with its giant sign with their store name in bright blue and white letters as well as several eye catching images of puppies, parakeets, and fish. Walking into the store, one immediately sees aisles of pet products ranging from dog food to fish tank decorations, aquariums to the left and a cash register to the right. The store’s aesthetic is welcoming and bright, and even more pleasant as I was greeted by the owner, Larry at the cash register where I asked him for an interview.

Larry is from Elmhurst, NY and has lived there his whole life. He opened his family-run business in 1970. Latinos comprise most of his customers, and the demographic hasn’t changed much over the years besides an increase in the Latino population. When we asked how his business was doing he replied, “It was going great until about a year ago. The economy has fallen off despite the lies told by Washington… the economy has turned sour, and the last year, we’re not doing as well as we use to.” Larry is clearly upset with the economy and how it is affecting his business. He was passionate about the national debt: “…10 billion dollars a week interest. You imagine what we could do if we had that money. We could build roads, bridges, tunnels, hospitals, water treatment.” (He was so passionate in fact, he even told us to mention this in our post.)

When we asked about any obstacles he faced, he stated, “…the rent is atrocious. $18,000 a month. I’m not kidding. A new landowner took over and my rent tripled, so we’ve been kind of struggling. We were okay though until the economy went south about a year ago.” Larry even showed us the bill he just paid, and sure enough, it was about $18,000 a month to rent the land. We expressed our shock and asked if he can sustain his family with what he made. He immediately exclaimed “Oh God no. I’m putting money into this store now. I’m trying to recover from what’s happened. And hopefully, somebody other than Hillary Clinton will get in office and we can turn this thing around.” He began to talk about how he did not want Hillary Clinton to become President because she had the same ideals as Obama such as more welfare, borrowing, taxing, and spending. Frustration clearly written on his face, Larry tells us he wouldn’t be able to make a minimum wage of $15 an hour and would close his store.  The future of Larry’s business is uncertain with the increasing rent and money he has to put into the store. Most mom and pop stores would go under because they can’t pay that kind of money.

Larry begins to talk to us about the national debt again and interest paying. He urges us to understand that this debt is awful and our future generations will have to pay for the money that was wasted. He mentioned a job program that wasn’t successful and how all this money was thrown away. Larry specifically called out President Obama for wanting to raise the debt ceiling every three months, and when he doesn’t get it, he blames the Republicans for shutting the government down. 

Then we asked Larry what kind of changes he saw in Jackson Heights as a community. And he responded by telling us that it was worse in the 70’s because of a huge drug problem. There was an outpatient clinic built as a drug treatment center and according to Larry, there were drug addicts all over the neighborhood. Larry had to hire an extra person to watch the drug addicts because they stole from his store to fund their drug habits. Eventually, the clinic was closed to build a new bus terminal at 74th street. Next, I asked him what changes he saw coming in Jackson Heights and Larry thought it was hard to predict. “It has become a steady Latino community, not a welfare neighborhood.” He thinks the demographics of Jackson Heights will not change much however he doesn’t know whether his shop will stay open within the next few years. 

Jackson Heights, Queens is a very diverse neighborhood consisting of people from all around the world. It is a melting pot of races from Hispanic, Asian, White, and Black. I use to live in this area and grew up knowing many people from ethnic backgrounds.  Although this is the demographic of Jackson Heights now, it wasn’t always. There is a constant influx of immigrants moving in to begin their new lives. Roosevelt Ave didn’t always have food carts, Hispanic and Asian restaurants neighboring each other.

Previously an area with a large White population, the pet store owner stated that the area has become more Hispanic and less White. According to the Social Explorer map below which compares the White, Black, and/or Asian populations from 1950 to 2013, the population has completely changed within the last 6 decades. In the 1950 census image on the left, there shows a majority white population.  On the other hand, the 2013 census shows a large Asian and Hispanic population in purple and blue. There are only a couple blocks in green showing a small White population in this area of the the neighborhood. There is also a significant difference in the more current demographic of Roosevelt Ave than in 1950.

In the next image below, taken from Social Explorer, one can clearly see the change in the Hispanic or Latino population from 1970 and 2014 in the dot density visual. There was clearly a growth in the Hispanic population during the time Larry began his pet shop. Larry’s observation that there was an increase of Hispanics in the neighborhood is true. Thankfully, that has kept the neighborhood stable as well as for his business.

In addition to commenting on the racial demographic, Larry also discussed the increase in rent in Jackson Heights. I wanted to see the severity of the situation especially since Larry was very exasperated with his rent bill. I researched the property values around the neighborhood in 2000 and 2013. I discovered that in 2000 the properties worth more than 300,000 was about 15.453% and in 2010 it was 63.496%. The data depicts the property values drastically increased within a decade which supports Larry’s assertion of increasing rent in the neighborhood. The increase in rent is negatively affecting small businesses in Jackson Heights, forcing them to close down while chain businesses take over. 

Jackson Heights is one of the most diverse places in America. People from all over the world settle here to build a new life. There is a lot of change happening in Jackson Heights such as increasing rent and changing  demographics. As immigrants began to settle in this area, the neighborhood developed into an ethnic enclave. However, just like Larry, many mom and pop stores are having difficulty paying their rent. If the prices keep on increasing, soon there will be few small businesses left in Jackson Heights. 

References

New York Times, the News Syndicate Co., the Daily Mirror, and Hearst Consolidated Publications,. “New York Market Analysis”. 1943: n. pag. Print.

“Owner Occupied Housing Units: More than $300,000, 2000.” Map. Social Explorer. Social Explorer, n.d. Web. May 31 2016.

“Owner-occupied Housing Units: More than $300,000, 2013.” Map. Social Explorer. Social Explorer, n.d. Web. May 31 2016.

“Spanish Origin or Descent, 1970.” Map. Social Explorer. Social Explorer, n.d. Web. May 31 2016.

“Total Population: Hispanic or Latino, 2014.” Map. Social Explorer. Social Explorer, n.d. Web. May 31 2016.

“Total Populations: Not Hispanic or Latino: White Alone, Total Population: Not Hispanic or Latino: Black or African American Alone, Total Population: Hispanic, Total Population: Asian, 2013.” Map. Social Explorer. Social Explorer, n.d. Web. May 31 2016.

“White, Black, Other: Census 1950 Tract Only.” Map. Social Explorer. Social Explorer, n.d. Web. May 31 2016.