From tariffs to public safety concerns, small business owners in the South Bronx face struggles to stay open.
Small businesses in the South Bronx’s Hub are facing rising import costs as a result of new U.S. tariffs and mounting economic uncertainty, threatening the stability of the commercial corridor.
“We are the oldest commercial district in the Bronx,” said Pedro Suarez, the Executive Director of the Third Avenue Business Improvement District, which is tasked with providing logistical support for local businesses. “This community has dealt with ups and downs for well over a century. So this community is definitely resilient.”
Now, though, that resilience is being tested. From meat markets to electronic shops, many businesses in the Hub are seeing slower sales, narrower margins and safety concerns. Some business owners who’ve survived previous challenges fear this time is different.
Small businesses in the South Bronx generated $4.9 billion in private sector wages in 2022, with one-third of the jobs concentrated in the Hunts Point, Longwood, and Melrose area, which includes the Hub.
In February, President Trump announced a 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports and 25% on some from Canada and Mexico. Shortly afterwards however, he announced a 30-day pause on the ones from Canada and Mexico while the tariffs on Chinese goods went into effect. April 2 was branded Liberation Day when 10 percent tariffs on global imports went into effect.
Then, earlier this month, the Trump administration announced a 90-day suspension of tariffs on Chinese imports.
It’s been a struggle for merchants and consumers to keep up. Meanwhile, lots of products imported from Mexico and Canada are exempt from tariffs under an agreement negotiated in July 2020. But not everything the U.S. imports from Mexico and Canada, the nation’s biggest trading partners, is covered by the agreement. There are still tariffs on those goods.
It’s enough to make a storeowner’s head spin.
Packaged and processed food such as canned vegetables and sauces using ingredients grown outside of North America, meat from countries outside of the alliance, cookware and low-cost clothing are not covered by the US- Mexico-Canada Agreement.
“It’s really impacting my business and very, very, very drastic,” said Luis Tirado, the owner of the People’s Choice Meat Market and Grill on 427 E. 149th Street.
Tirado began working at the shop in the early 1990s before eventually purchasing it from the previous owner in 2003. He sources meat from the Hunts Point Market, where, according to Tirado, prices have increased. His daily sales have slipped to nearly $2,000 and he’s already reduced the number of hours he’s paying his four employees.
“I feel like I’m going to go out of business because I’m absorbing all the weight and I am passing some of it to the customers,” Tirado said. “But I can’t go any higher than where I’m at already because if they are not buying at the prices I have, if I go higher, I’m just going to have to close the gates.”
While not every shop has felt the effects of tariffs yet, many are bracing.
“There’s definitely concerns about it,” said the BID’s Pedro Suarez. “I don’t think that a lot of local businesses still fully understand sort of the impact yet, just because there’s been a lot of back and forth on the tariff situation at the federal level, as to where they’re going to land.”
That uncertainty has left retailers in some commercial sectors especially uneasy.
Many of the immigrant-owned businesses in the Hub also face language and technology barriers that limit access to trustworthy information.
“I would say even more than language, potentially just tech savvy in terms of making sure that they’re getting the right information from reputable sources,” Suarez said. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there.”
Even among national brands along Third Avenue such as Chipotle, Jimmy Jazz and Kid City, uncertainty is setting in. At a Verizon storefront at 2899 Third Ave, Wendy Tobar, a manager, said prices on accessories are expected to rise.
“We know that there’s going to be an increase. We just don’t know how much on accessories and stuff,” she said.
Tobar noted that customers have started complaining.
“We’re telling them that, unfortunately, it’s not us. It’s the fact that the tariffs are making everything go up.”
Like many other businesses in the area, staff hours at the store have already been reduced, according to Tobar.
“If it gets worse, it’s going to be way worse,” she said.
The economic strain is not limited to chain stores. At Nuñez Depot, a family-run hardware store that has operated in the area for almost two decades, Harvey Nuñez said the pressure is building.
“We import a lot of stuff, we are all going to get affected,” he said, standing amongst aisles filled with pots, mops and painting equipment. “We are looking at my vendors, at least 20% increase, and that’s going to go directly to the customer, which is a big impact.”
Despite trying to prepare by stocking up with inventory, Nuñez has already seen the change in the price of some products.
“We have some housewares that are pots,” he said. “It used to have a $40 retail, now it’s $70, so almost a 100% increase.”
Still, Nuñez is holding off on cutting staff hours. For now.
“We might have to cut hours depending on what we do, what we sell,” he said. “We’re going to have to wait and see. Hopefully, this resolves before it gets any worse.”
Carlos Fernandez, who has worked at A&Z Electronics at 665 Elton Avenue since he was 14, selling electronics like televisions, car speakers and portable DVD players, said rising import costs are changing what customers can afford.
“Everything comes from China,” he said. As of May 12, tariffs on Chinese products have been reduced to 30 percent from the 145 percent Trump initially announced. But that could change again. “Customers say they can’t afford it. They think about food, which is expensive, and just keep what they have.”
As small businesses face economic strain, they’re also contending with more homegrown challenges. Suarez pointed to quality-of-life issues, especially around health and safety, as ongoing barriers to revitalizing the district.
“The opioid epidemic is very much still a real challenge,” he said.
However, he added that the city had made progress.
“The New York City Department of Health has definitely been helping coordinate a lot of their service providers in the area.”
One focal point is Roberto Clemente Plaza, where the BID is working with community partners to create a regular calendar of events.
Those efforts are part of a larger push to make the corridor cleaner, safer, and more stable.
At the same time, Suarez acknowledged that many business owners don’t know what help is available. The BID plans to keep pushing for grants and low-interest loans to support storefronts while improving multilingual outreach to help the businesses access existing programs, he added.
Street vending is another point of friction, with unlicensed vendors in the Hub muscling in on brick-and-mortar stores.
“How do we support our brick-and-mortar stores while giving unlicensed vendors a path to entrepreneurship that makes sense?” said Suarez,
As the BID looks ahead, Suarez said he wants the corridor to attract a broader range of uses and visitors, while “giving unlicensed vendors a path to entrepreneurship that makes sense,” to help provide opportunities for as many aspiring business owners as possible.
For some business owners, the concern is more immediate.
“I don’t know nothing else. All I have in my life is this store,” said Tirado. “That’s why it’s so concerning to me.”
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