Small-business owner Fred Satin hears “Main Street” in the news about the economic fallout from Wall Street and knows they are talking about his business in downtown White Plains.
As it is for many retailers and restaurants in the Mamaroneck Avenue business corridor, customer traffic and sales are down at Com-Fit Shoes, the specialty store Satin has owned for 23 years in WestchesterCounty. Losing a sale last week when he would not lower even more a half-price markdown for a haggling customer, he agonized more than usual.
“I”™m going to kick myself all day thinking about that,” he said, after deciding not to chase down the empty-handed shopper on the sidewalk and negotiate. In tough times, “Everybody wants something for nothing and it”™s the little guys that get caught in the middle.”
“I wake up in the morning and I”™m afraid to watch the news,” Satin said at his 1,500-square-foot store at 138 E. Post Road.
”˜Perfect storm”™
Satin moved his business there a year ago this month after rent tripled under new management at his 22-year location in the Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers. In White Plains, he has teamed with a local podiatrist to offer “one-stop shopping” for adult customers, many elderly, seeking both foot care and specially fitted shoes.
“The concept is good,” said Satin. “It”™s just that since we moved, it”™s been kind of like a perfect storm. ”¦The economy has gone south. It”™s tougher on the small-business guy. The bottom line is, nobody”™s coming to bail us out. You go try to borrow $10,000 ”“ it doesn”™t work that way for the little guy. That”™s why people are going out of business. And landlords aren”™t reducing rents.”
In the central business district of the county seat, “There”™s no traffic,” said Satin, an observation shared by several business owners there last week. “People aren”™t out and about. It”™s been much slower.
“It”™s very hard to plan and predict. It used to be I knew within a few hundred dollars what we”™d do every week. Now it”™s a stretch.”
Selling specialty products, “I think that”™s the only thing that saves us to a degree,” Satin said.
“We have a little bit of a reason for people to come in.”
That is not so for D”™Ann M. Sposato, owner of the 850-square-foot Carroll-Condit Gallery at 210 Mamaroneck Ave. Selling picture framing, art and handcrafts, “I don”™t have anything anybody needs to put gas in the gas tank or food on the table or lunch in the kids”™ lunch boxes,” she said. “Yes, we are definitely affected” by the economic crisis.
Sposato said her business dropped off significantly in the second quarter. Among her business neighbors, “I haven”™t talked to anyone that the dollars have not been off. It”™s very strange times. IÂ have browsers tell me that when they see things that they like, they just don”™t feel comfortable buying right now.
“I”™m trying to determine how much to purchase for the holidays” in inventory. “Last year it was a significant drop” in holiday sales. “I don”™t know what to expect this year.”
On the sidewalks of Mamaroneck Avenue, “I don”™t see the traffic even at lunch time, people walking around like they used to,” she said. The happy-hour crowd that frequents the string of bars on Mamaroneck seems to have shrunk too, to judge by the empty parking spaces at 6 p.m. in a normally filled municipal lot. “I think even young persons are feeling the pinch,” Sposato said.
”˜I will survive”™
“It is terrible,” said Koshy Chacko, long-time owner of Fair Deal Café at 253 Mamaroneck Ave. “My business was off 20 percent last month. Right now people are walking around absolutely discouraged.” Among downtown businesses, “People are holding on but they”™re hurting.”
“These last two weeks have been the most devastating,” said Chacko, vice president of the Westchester-Rockland chapter of  the New York State Restaurant Association, a trade group that last month hosted a hard-times-survival seminar attended by 80 area restaurant owners. “We have no leadership. I think the bailout is a complete disaster. It”™s not going to work. It”™s a Band-Aid for a much bigger issue.”
Chacko has changed his business operations in the crisis. “Before we were buying for a month. Now we buy for a week,” he said. “Before if there was a deal” from a bulk supplier, “we would take it. Now we go from day to day. Before we used to get delivered here. Now we go to pick up from a cash-and-carry to save money.” While holding the line on prices for customers, he has cut “overpriced” items such as veal, shrimp and lobster from his menu. He has reduced hours for his 12-employee staff and has cut energy costs by using state and Consolidated Edison incentive programs for businesses that switch to energy-saving equipment.
“I know I will survive,” Chacko said. “But I”™m going to come out as a better business, a leaner business. When it”™s all said and done, I”™m going to be a different operation.”
“The restaurant industry in the last six to eight months has learned to live with less. You lower your expectations” for business earnings, “so you lower your spending.”
Chacko expects no economic turnaround soon. “Up until January, until we have a new leader, nothing is going to happen. It”™s a crisis of confidence. You need a leader who people will believe. That”™s what we badly need.”
Locally, “There will be a consolidation,” the restaurateur predicted. “The ones who are efficient, smart and with enough capital to hold on will survive.”
Amid the mounting gloom, some owners saw light ahead for business on “Main Street.”
“White Plains is moving,” Satin said at his shoe store. “The economy is going in the right direction. We just have to weather the storm, so to speak.”
