wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

While financial analysts closely watching the stock market, housing market and consumer consumption are predicting that the recession is likely nearly over, word on the street is mixed.

As part of our Main Street project looking at a series of streets in and around the city over the course of this tumultuous year, WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez spoke to small businesses and shoppers on Victory Boulevard on Staten Island to ask whether they’re seeing signs of an economic recovery:

REPORTER: Victory Boulevard is walking distance from the ferry. Old timers might remember when it was part of a bustling downtown. As Staten Island became more suburban the area became blighted.

but in the more recent past, immigrant business owners such as Kelvin Hanaf have started to revive it. Hanaf first opened his small takeout restaurant, Island Roti 11 years ago. When we visited close to six months ago he was hurting, and today it’s much the same:

HANAF: Like I said people don’t have money so nobody’s spending.

REPORTER: There was one person spending money at Hanaf’s restaurant and that was auto mechanic Nigel Maycock. Maycock says businesses is slow for him too.

MAYCOCK: I Didn’t do nothing all morning. Nothing, just stayed and watched traffic.

REPORTER: And Maycock says the few customers that do come in are hesitant to spend money:

MAYCOCK: It’s like they’re only gonna fix the car unless it’s something that’s really, really broken. Nobody’s not really spending like you know, and when they do spend they trying to cut you down now more too.

REPORTER: Bargain shopping is actually a good thing for some businesses. The 99 Cent Store across the street from Island Roti says it’s been thriving during this recession.

KATARD: Day by day we are getting good business because everything is cheap.

REPORTER: Ahamed Katard helps run K&A 99 Cents Plus. He says on average the store sells about $2,000 a day and soap and frozen foods are two of the most popular items. Customer Gwendolyn Joseph came to the dollar store for a box of Goya rice and beans:

JOSEPH: I’m not working so that’s why the dollar store comes in handy.

REPORTER: Joseph says she got laid off from her secretarial job nine months ago and finding a new job has been rough. According to the State Department of Labor, as of September, Staten Island’s unemployment rate was 8.9 percent, less than the citywide rate of over 10 percent.

On Victory Boulevard several of the immigrant businesses say they haven’t had to lay anyone off because most of their employees are family members. And even at the stores that aren’t immigrant run, jobs have been spared so far. Harry Demner owns the hardware store next door and says he hasn’t resorted to layoffs or bank loans:

DEMNER: Not yet. But dipping into my back funds lets say.

REPORTER: This charmingly cluttered store has been in the family 80 years and Demner says he’s seen many highs and lows.

DEMNER: This is to me the worst that I’ve seen.

REPORTER: Still he says he has noticed some improvement:

DEMNER: Maybe recently in the last month or two. We’ll see how long it lasts though.

REPORTER: While Demner is cautiously optimistic the barbers across the street are more confident their business is on the way up:

LADDER: My name is Ladder and I’m one of the barbers at Against the Grain Barbershop.

REPORTER: The young barber took a moment to talk before using clippers on his customer draped in a black smock.

LADDER: It’s a little slow but you know we make our money it pays the bills, it keeps everybody happy it keeps our heads above water, yeah the recession is over it’s about to pick up.

REPORTER: Ladder considers barbershops somewhat recession proof and so does his colleague William across the way:

WILLIAM: Well, I’ll tell you one thing it may slow down a little bit but you know you gotta come back here, you gotta get it cut, you gotta get it shaved you know what I’m saying, it’s still very much needed.

REPORTER: His customer William Dusset agrees:

DUSSET: Well if you gotta job, you can’t always go to work looking shabby, You know, you may not get your hair cut every week, but every two weeks now, because of the economy. But it's definitely needed. I used to get my haircut every week, now its every two weeks, So I’m a prime example of the recession.

REPORTER: So as analysts continue to predict the future of the economy, perhaps it’s not only the NASDAQ they should be looking at but also the upkeep of a man’s beard. For WNYC, I’m Cindy Rodriguez.

To find out more about the Main Street Project, to see photos and leave a comment, go to our web site.