Recession hits Central Avenue (updated)

By Michael Orbach

Issue of Jan. 16, 2009 / 20 Teves 5769

Whether it’s the open parking spaces, the closed stores, or the bored stares of bank tellers in Cedarhurst branches, one thing is clear: the recession has hit Central Avenue.

Signs touting twenty to fifty percent off fall merchandise are common this time of year, but more stores are offering sales, from luxury items to electronic goods, at higher percentages and higher volumes than perhaps ever before. Whether it’s the Crystal Tree where the manager declined to comment; mannequins in Jonathan’s wearing stark white t-shirts that read ‘sale’; a bare display window at Goldmine Jewelers; or stores that are oddly closed in the middle of the day, Central Avenue is not itself these days. Along the main commercial drag, from Spruce Street to Washington Avenue, five stores are currently for rent.

At Uccelli on Cedarhurst Ave., just off Central, owner Faye Klausner stressed to a reporter that while sales are slower than usual, there is “nothing to scream about.” But others painted a grimmer picture, with one upscale merchant telling The Jewish Star that people are only buying for their “needs,” and that the only busy stores in Cedarhurst are CVS and Gourmet Glatt.

“In retail you shed your skin and take a new one,” he said,” but we’re not shedding it fast enough.”

An owner of a store who asked not to be named in the newspaper said she has attended a number of local business meetings and learned about a combination of factors affecting Central Avenue. Aside from the rough economy, she believes, the Five Towns is experiencing a demographic shift with more Jewish families from Brooklyn moving in.

“This is Flatbush East,” she said. “More people are asking if we can do any better. If I pay in cash...?”

Chain stores aren’t looking towards Central Avenue anymore, she added. “A lot of chain stores aren’t going to touch Cedarhurst, they’re looking for seven days and it’s not here.”

Morton’s Army and Navy is one of the oldest stores on Central Avenue. Owner Steve Silverman said that while his current sale for fall goods is an annual event, he offered 20 percent off winter wear during the month of December due to the economy.

“We felt it that it was a necessity,” said Silverman. “We felt our numbers were off.”

On a Monday afternoon in Morton’s, customers moved along the aisles picking up Northface gloves, Billabong sweatshirts, and ski gear. While customers paid with credit cards, Silverman said he believes that Bernard Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme has had an effect on local families.

“It sent shockwaves through the community,” Silverman said. “People were waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

A self-described good customer from Woodmere who was returning two sweatshirts piped in: “My husband said I should only buy things on sale.”

Across the street at Suit Central an employee said that while their current sale was customary and that January was typically a slow season for suits, “when you’re in a slow season in an economy like this one it hurts. Like every other business, even with great sales, if you don’t have the money to pay...”

At Legaacy, a women’s hosiery store also offering fifty percent off, Moshe, the store manager who requested his last name not be used, was more sanguine.

“Everyone’s being hit by this, in one way or another,” he said.

Gourmet Glatt was the only truly crowded store during the day. Shmuel Unger, the owner of Simply Sushi, a concession inside the supermarket, explained that signs of the recession were everywhere.

“Times are tight, people are price conscious,” he said. “But people are still buying sushi.”

An earlier Jewish Star report on Central Avenue several months ago found storeowners who stressed that business was good; one even claimed to a reporter that business was up. It’s a very different story now. Central Avenue is not exempt from the financial crisis, and the questions are: how hard has the shopping strip been hit and how long it will take it for it to recover. For now, it seems, the most popular chain store on Central Avenue is: For Rent.

UPDATE:

This story reflects the following corrections published in the Jan. 23, 2009 issue:

Due to an error in the photo department, the images that accompanied ‘Recession hits Central Ave’ (Jan. 16, 2009) were shot nearby on Broadway in Hewlett, which clearly suffers from similar concerns. Images of stores on Central Avenue between Cedarhurst Avenue and Spruce Street that are for rent or ones offering steep discounts, that should have run last week, are shown here.

Also, a statement by Faye Klausner, owner of Uccelli, on Cedarhurst Avenue, that sales, while slower that usual, are “nothing to scream at,” was mistakenly attributed to an employee of the Bellysima maternity shop across the street. The Star regrets the errors.