Fourth Avenue small businesses feel squeezed from all sides

Anyone who has tried opening their own business knows the sleepless nights that come with it, the constant worry about how to make the most out of limited time and money. For many business owners along Fourth Avenue, from Prospect Avenue to 36th Street, both time and money seem to be running out.

The corridor holds a lot of promise as apartment buildings like the Alexey at 635 Fourth Avenue and newer rentals at 875 Fourth Avenue have added hundreds of units to what was once a mostly industrial strip. At the same time, city projects have rebuilt the medians and added bike lanes in the name of traffic safety, reshaping how cars move and park on the avenue.

But when you step inside the shops that line those blocks, for many owners the promise remains unfulfilled as they struggle with continued inflation, slow recovery from the pandemic, ongoing roadwork, and a wave of new residents who are not converting into the customers they had banked on.

L’Insolent Coffee sits on Fourth Avenue between 18th and 19th streets, tucked into the ground floor of the Alexey. Co-owner Gretchen Couchman opened the café about a year and a half ago, after building out a raw space that had never housed a long-term business. She and her partners chose Fourth because the neighborhood seemed on the upswing and, compared to neighborhoods like Carroll Gardens, the rent seemed manageable. “Paying $10,000 rent is just impossible,” she said, describing the prices she was quoted on Court Street. “It’s like I’m broke before I even open my door.”

On a typical day L’Insolent rings up 50 to 60 orders, about double where they were last year, but still a long way off from what Couchman estimates they need just to cover costs. “We need it to be more,” she said. “Like, double that, just to break even.”

Inflation has made it harder to close that gap. The café buys pastries from several well-known Brooklyn bakeries, including Colson, and relies on vendors like Odeko for coffee shop staples. Those suppliers have all raised prices, but Couchman hesitates to pass the full increase on to customers. “Our bakeries already increased our prices, but I can’t raise my prices on my pastries,” she said. “I have to absorb certain bits of it.”

Parking and street design are another constant refrain. Through their glass door, Couchman can watch drivers speed down Fourth without ever glancing toward the sidewalk. “Most people are just zooming,” she said. Metered spaces are scarce, which means potential customers who are driving cannot easily pull over for a quick coffee. She would like to see more metered parking to create turnover and give businesses a chance to catch those customers. “There are some drivers who want coffee too,” Couchman said.

Despite the pressure, Couchman remains bullish on the area’s long-term future. Nearby, a new grocery market has opened, and a wellness center and other small businesses have joined the block. She believes Fourth Avenue will keep improving. Her only question is whether small independent shops like hers can hold on long enough to be part of that future. “Yes, I feel optimistic,” she said. “‘Is it gonna be fast enough?’ is the question to make sure that we can keep our doors open.”

Further south, near the corner of 32nd Street, Big John’s Coffee Shop & Grill has been serving breakfast and lunch on Fourth Avenue since 2009. Before the pandemic, owner John described a steady stream of orders from nearby offices and hotels, trays of sandwiches and hot dishes for meetings, regular catering contracts from nearby employers, and tourists headed to and from local hotels.

COVID wiped much of that out, and remote work has kept it from fully returning. Many of the hotels that once sent guests to his counter are now being used as shelters, with meals handled through city contracts. The catering orders and tourist breakfasts that used to provide a reliable base of business are largely gone. “As far as the food business, it’s hurt,” he said. Then inflation hit. The price of beef for roast beef and burgers, for example, more than doubled. “It’s a squeeze from all ends,” he explained. “We can’t make up the volume we’ve lost. The volume is down, the margin is down.”

John worries that if small operators like him cannot survive, chains will be the only ones left. “Most of us are going to go out,” he said. “Then there’s just going to be big box stores left. Imagine if they’re the only ones around. Who’s going to stop them?”

Doing his part, he says he supports independent businesses where he lives in Queens, buying coffee from corner shops instead of chains, choosing small restaurants for family dinners. “I need it,” he said of that support. “So I’m assuming they need it too.”

Across the avenue, a small cluster of storefronts tells a similar story. Paws and Rec, a dog daycare and boarding business at 857 Fourth Avenue, sits just below Ardon Sweet Science Gym, with a shuttered tailor and dry cleaner next door and Ocean Eats on the corner at 865 Fourth Avenue.

Owner Jennifer Fox remembers a very different trajectory before the pandemic. The “dog business” was booming, she explained, as more competitors opened and pet services platforms like Wag and Rover emerged. Then COVID hit, and the surge in dog adoptions did not lead to the steady stream of clients she expected. Many of those animals, she noted, were later rehomed, and those that stayed often remained at home with their owners, who never returned to full-time office life.

“We’ve promoted every angle,” she said of their efforts to convince remote workers that their dogs still need exercise and socialization. “It hasn’t produced a whole lot.”

Paws and Rec is not paying the kind of runaway commercial rent that drives so many small businesses out. Fox described a landlord who is local, attentive and willing to negotiate, a relationship she knows is rare. “They know our names,” she said. “We’re not strangers, even though they have multiple properties.” The two sides were able to work out a modest rent reduction that helped the business stay put, at least for now.

What has not appeared, despite years of waiting, is the steady flow of customers from the new buildings nearby. Just south, 875 Fourth Avenue loomed as a future lifeline when Paws and Rec first moved in. Fox remembers being excited: a high rise right next door meant dozens of potential clients just an elevator ride away. But when the building finally opened, the payoff was underwhelming. Their staff dropped off personalized invitations to each unit and wound up with just a couple of customers. “We got two customers from there,” she recalled. “That’s it.”

Up above, Ardon Sweet Science Gym is also in transition. After 21 years on the avenue, boxing coach and owner Greg Ardon is packing up and relocating to a new, slightly larger space on 30th Street between Third and Fourth avenues. The rent there is comparable now, he explained, but the increases at his current location were steeper; in the long run, staying put would have meant paying more for less.

The new gym will be on the first floor with windows facing the street, which Ardon hopes will draw in more walk-ins than the upstairs space he has now. Parking was also a factor. At the old gym he often paid at the meter on Fourth, feeding it between classes. In the new spot, he will finally have his own parking space. “Sometimes it’s good to refresh,” he said. “Sad a little bit, but at the same time it’s an evolution, good to start fresh again.”

Like other owners on the avenue, Ardon talks about inflation as something that touches every part of his business and his students’ lives. “Food goes up, everything goes up, transportation goes up,” he said. “It’s the price you pay for living in New York, but it’s the price you gotta pay, I guess.”

He has seen some new clients from a recently built “big condominium” next door, but not enough to erase the uncertainty. “Even though everything is becoming a little bit tougher, I think the neighborhood has evolved in a good way,” he said. “We’ll see in the future what happens. But as far as business is concerned, we’re not really sure about the future.”

Between these long-time anchors, the churn is visible in the storefronts themselves. Ocean Eats has told customers it plans to close, another casualty of rising costs and uneven post-pandemic foot traffic. The tailor shop and dry cleaner that once sat between the pet business and the restaurant has already shuttered, its security gate pulled down for good. Those empty spaces sit side by side with newer arrivals like a small coffee roaster and a new grocery market, proof that the avenue is still drawing entrepreneurs even as others call it quits.

For all the frustration, none of the owners interviewed were ready to write off Fourth Avenue. They talked about new food spots opening and more variety in the neighborhood. The question hanging over all of them is time. They can see ways that Fourth Avenue could become a stronger commercial corridor: safer crossings, better parking management, coordinated marketing, and stronger ties to the residents in the new buildings overhead. Several said they believe things will eventually improve. They just are not sure they can keep the lights on long enough to see it.