The small retailers and store owners along the White Plains end of Mamaroneck Avenue have apprehensions concerning increasing tax pressures and the conduct of patrons along the city”™s main street.
“The cost of doing business as an independent small retailer in White Plains is horrific,” said DeDe Sposato, owner of the Carroll-Condit Gallery. “We are out of step with how business is done in the other areas of the country. Insurances go up 15 percent per year, if you try to increase your pricing by 15 percent, you price yourself right out of business. If you don”™t price yourself up you”™re going to price yourself out of business.”
The small merchants that remain along the busiest thoroughfare in the city of White Plains are not only feeling the anxieties of pricing, but have been dealt a blow with the city sales tax jumping a quarter of a cent as of June 1. The increase to 8-and-1/8 percent, is expected to make the city the most dependent in the state on the unstable revenue source
Thought the city hopes to relieve the pressure on property taxes, it seems to be placing the burden on the merchants.
“Now we”™ve got an increase coming in sales tax that I think will hurt the city on the short term of this year and possibly into next year because people have already stopped spending,” said Sposato. “I was a busy little shop and it”™s been quiet. Since the doors have been open and the weathers been nice we get more traffic but not spending traffic. As they say when you walk around a mall, look at how many people are carrying a shopping bag.”
Other business owners have felt that the rent hikes in the area are onerous, with larger businesses treated the same as mom-and-pop operations.
“The rents have gone so high,” said Rosanne Rush, president of Magnificent Edibles. “I would say the rents are very much a concern for a small business owner. I think the city should give small business owners and mom-and-pop stores some kind of incentive to open businesses here. I really believe we”™re the heart of the city, we cater to the individual person, not that large corporations don”™t, but large corporations have the ability to purchase things at lower cost than we do. I know I will give completely individual service, whereas the employee in a large corporation is not free to do the service I am.
“For instance, I have a young lady getting married in June and she wants her gown copied in her wedding cake and I”™ve offered to go to her home in Queens to take a look at the gown so that I can copy it. I don”™t think many large corporations would do that. I think a lot of mom and pop stores are being forced out of the city.”
If you were to walk from the new Ritz Carlton Hotel at the start of Mamaroneck Avenue to the split of Old Mamaroneck Avenue you would see 13 empty storefronts.
The north-downtown end of Mamaroneck Ave. has its share of locations with gutted counter tops and ”˜for rent”™ signs in the doorways, though this past year has seen growth in the street”™s well-known bar strip between Maple Avenue and Post Road. Recent entries include the recently opened bars Element and Brazen Fox, and the coming debut of Finnegan”™s Bar and Grill.
The increase has affected the surrounding businesses, some of whom are concerned by the nocturnal businesses and the conduct of some of their disinhibited patrons.
Peter Evangelista, co-owner of Evangelista Hair Salon, has witness the Mamaroneck Avenue scene for 21 years. “But over the past few years it seems the people have a tendency of getting a bit rowdy as far as getting drunk and turning the avenue upside-down,” he said. “We used to have flower pots outside. Basically, every Saturday morning when we”™d come in we”™d find them turned and the flowers damaged. Just as recently as last weekend, someone kicked in our front window; it”™s an expensive process. I would like to see more from the bar owners to be a bit more observant with the liquor that they serve. Whoever is serving liquor should be able to tell when someone has had enough.”
How the public and the merchants interact seems to be a common theme on Mamaroneck Avenue. Most say they could do without problems they attribute to the homeless and out-patients from the hospital loitering in front of their stores. Some store owners found fault with the city”™s lack of consideration during celebrations, with trash and parking cited.
“I have a great objection to the city”™s parades, which start stage up here out of the business district, and we have no real benefit from it except that it impedes our business,” said Ray Tedesco, owner of Raphael Opticians.
