Change in Carroll Gardens Squeezing Little Guy
In an article lamenting the fact that the owner of a local Carroll Gardens pharmacy recently had to sell out to Eckerds because of the economics of gentrification, The Daily News notes a couple of specific changes on the retail landscape of the increasingly popular nabe: The pharmacy in question is slated to become a…
In an article lamenting the fact that the owner of a local Carroll Gardens pharmacy recently had to sell out to Eckerds because of the economics of gentrification, The Daily News notes a couple of specific changes on the retail landscape of the increasingly popular nabe:
“They’re making it very difficult for the small businesses to stay in business,” says the displaced pharmacist. “Everything changes. I guess they call that progress.”
Becoming a Link in a Chain [NY Daily News]
OK, so the “little guy” is little, we know that. We don’t need to start bashing them for being so or scorning them for a “small town mentality.” It’s a different time now, different service demands, etc. Many of the little guys don’t fit the bill anymore, but they provided needed services in their time, long before all of you got here.
The “little guy” is just that, little. They operate with a small town mentality. They never needed to have marketing strategies or ad campaigns in order to service their customers. The only competion was from other little guys just blocks away who ran their business similarly. The “little guy” didn’t have to worry in years past that a trendy restaurant or boutique would be able to offer landlords rent that was multiples of theirs. Or that a national chain with massive economies of scale behind it would move in around the corner. People fight Wal-Mart from moving into NYC because of the damage it does the mom and pop stores and the character of a neighborhood but dont seem to care that chain pharmacies have popped up ever few blocks.
I totally agree with the above — chain stores and efficient are exact opposites — I’ve walked out of Duane Reade, CVS, Eckerd’s, Rite Aid, etc., all over Manhattan and Brooklyn because of the ridiculous lines. Duane Reade seems especially lax here — maybe one cashier and ten or more people on line. Not to mention the surly attitude of the employees.
Its bad for the City as small shop owners are great middle class openings which offer immigrants a chance to move up the economic ladder. The biggest plus the money stays in the community. With chains, its mostly employees who will never make more than minimum wage and the profits go to corp headquarters and Wall Street.
Previous posters are right, Leonardo’s chose to close, they weren’t pushed out as they own the building. I’ve known Gerard since he was a baby, so he was a fledgling pharmacist when he opened Carroll Court in 1990.
I think Cocco might be on to something in terms of the little guy not even trying.
Think about how many ‘local’ coffee places cant even make a passable espresso, yet whenever Starbucks (hardly passable but at least it has some crema and isnt 6oz per shot) opens everyone complains (except they all seem to be crowded)
Leonardo’s definitely didn’t get squeezed out — the family owns the building and just made a choice to close. Also, for mom and pop pharmacy service, I always go to the pharmacy on Clinton and President St., which will also deliver a called-in prescription (and answer questions). Was anyone else as surprised as I was to see in the articles that both Leonardo’s and Carroll-Court weren’t that old — 1990 for the pharmacy and mid-80’s for Leonardo’s. I’ve been here about as long as Leonardo’s and I feel like a “newcomer”. It’s not as if those mom and pop stores had been there forever. (Not that I won’t miss Leonardo’s tremendously).
If the present Key Food becomes a CVS (as I have heard recently), it would be a welcome alternative to Eckerd which is just about the most awful drugstore in the area. The registers are rarely fully staffed despite 20 people waiting on line at any time of day, especially the evening rush hour when people come out of the subway station and stop in to shop. When there’s a sale, the store puts out a limited number of the product on the shelf, and when it’s gone, it’s gone, even though there is still more in the stockroom. Corporate Eckerd allows only a limited number of items to be sold at the sale price and the shelves are not restocked with that item until the sale is over (this is according to an insider.) As for Key Food, yes, the store has improved in recent years, but it still remains the most expensive in the area and you have to watch the sales there too…make sure you get the sale price at the register, otherwise you get charged the regular price.
Funny many of the small shop keepers I run across arent offering a “relationship” but rather hostility AND inefficiency. Yes there are exceptions but it does seem like the local mom and pop is much more likely to be dirty, tired looking and have a curmogeon (sp?)