Bob Levy

Commerce

115 Year Old Business Struggles to Stay Open

My wife and I run a family retail business that was established in 1894 by my great grandparents. 115 years old and we are the 4th generation, direct descendants of the founders. Throughout all of our history we have been in four locations all on the Lower East Side and all within a six block radius. We are members of the 100 Year Association of New York City and have received many proclamations over the years from such dignitaries as Mayors Guliani and Bloomberg and NYS Assemblyman Sheldon Silver. I am the Chairperson of the Lower East Side BID. The 9/11 tragedy devastated our business as we lost more than 30% of our business for years after. We responded by cutting our space in half and re-inventing ourselves as a boutique. We used what was formally our warehouse, a circa 1900 catering hall, which we restored to it’s original beauty. Last year was the first year since 9/11 that we increased volume and were almost profitable. This recession comes at a time during our re-building and we do not have the resources to withstand much more. Our business is off by about 25%. Since the business is not able to pay my wife and I a salary I am working as a NYC Paramedic for St Vincent’s Medical Center during the day and working at the store in the evening. There is much more to our story and I welcome being contacted as we are not expert in recordings or videos. I certainly have many hundreds of pictures. I hope that your publicity will make people interested. Thank you!

98 Forsyth Street