Harlem Explorations

When we visited Harlem, we walked around several blocks including 125th between Lenox and Adam Clayton Powell Junior Blvd, which were the most crowded streets by far. As we walked further West down 125th street, we passed by several shops set up on tables on the side of the block. They were selling things ranging from jewelry, clothing and phone accessories. We approached a few of these street vendors, and one nice man agreed to talk to us. He was selling sweatshirts on a large table on a busy corner.

This man, who wanted to remain anonymous, told us about how his business as a street vendor had changed because of the pandemic, but he also explained how it wasn’t just the pandemic that had caused changes in business, but also gentrification. A new hotel had gone up fairly recently and the man described how, “in this area most of the garment stores are closing down because of this hotel that is driving up the property taxes.” The hotel changed the way that people interact with businesses in the neighborhood, and who was interacting with  those businesses. 

Next, we spoke to a nice lady working in a small hardware shop. While our conversation with her was short, it  was sweet. When we asked her about customers and how the pandemic has affected the amount of business she gets, she explained to us how “Earlier this year it was declining, but it’s picking back up… It’s coming back , people are moving around.” We spoke about how vaccinations are definitely making people more comfortable going out to shop. Her store was small and while we saw no one else inside, it was clear that she had seen a rise in customers.