Small Business Survival
In Southeast Queens

By Shams Tarek

Southeast Queens is known more as a semi-bucolic, residential escape than a bustling center of commercial activity.

But anecdotal evidence suggests that many area residents not only live here but work here, too. While many people may work in Manhattan or other boroughs, a lot of Southeast Queensites never commute north of Hillside Avenue or west of the Van Wyck Expressway.

With a conspicuous lack of franchises and superstores here – not counting the exception of parts of Jamaica and Hillside Avenues – it’s clear that it’s the small business that’s king in Southeast Queens.

As the area – especially Downtown Jamaica – undergoes a rezoning study that will result in taller and denser buildings, as well as peripheral effects of the gentrification of the entire borough, Southeast Queens’ small shops and service outlets are in as precarious a position as ever to survive.

Without the pressure of standardization imposed by corporate ownership, the small, family-owned businesses of this part of the borough stand to offer some of the most unique shopping and service experiences in Queens.

Flourishing in the Jamaica Market are places like Jasmine’s, a food stand not commonly seen in other parts of the borough. PRESS Photo By Shams Tarek

A Southeast Queens small business that fits that description – while still being lucrative and recognized nationally – is Jamaica Avenue’s Nubian Heritage.

The bright, clean, aromatic general store for African products is a jewel on an otherwise hum-drum block at 168th Street, lighting up the sidewalk and exceeding the expectations of everyone who visits.

The 7,000-square-foot store, which opened last March, sells a dizzying array of products. As with the general stores of old, a customer can go there for everything from body products, to books, to music, to artwork, to home products, to jewelry and clothing.

The body products, with their all-natural ingredients, sound more like food than cosmetics. The store’s “Body Butter” line, a series of skin and hair moisturizers, includes such tasty-sounding ingredients as cocoa, mango and avocado.

Another skin line is based on olive oil and green tea, and another on honey.

There’s an extensive line of jewelry and clothing at the store, all of it reflecting African culture and decorative traditions. Much of it is handmade.

The store carries a lot of music and videos, all by or about Africans or African-Americans. The sounds range from blues from this country’s deep South, to Afro-Cuban jazz improvisations to the bare, visceral drumming of Africa. Most of the videos are classic or rare movies, including foreign and local productions.

There’s also a large book section at the store, with titles under a variety of topics, and enough artwork to fill any house.

There are plenty of figurines, ranging from folk figures to saints to quasi-religious figures representing the principles of Kwanzaa. Richly painted tapestries and murals hang from the walls, and posters and photography can be bought as well.

Owner Edwin McCray won’t reveal sales figures, but said that he does a brisk business; a light but constant stream of customers keeps employees busy.

As impressive as Nubian Heritage is as a business, it’s more than just that.  It’s a community center and cultural destination, too.

The store regularly has live events, including many book signings.

The Jamaica-based Afrikan Poetry Theatre holds lectures and readings in the store’s basement; McCray also runs book club meetings in the lower level of the store, at 168-14 Jamaica Ave.

The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation opened a mall in Downtown Jamaica in 1992 that it describes as a “small business incubator.”

Like Nubian Heritage, The Jamaica Market is another standout on Jamaica Avenue.

It’s set up as a ground-floor food court and retail mall, with 17 stores, mostly selling arts and crafts, and nine restaurants. There’s also a coffee bar, a produce stand, a flower shop and a walk-up small business center, selling essential items like money orders and stamps.

Marc Tally, a photographer and painter from Springfield Gardens, has been at Jamaica Market since 2000.

He runs an art stall, called Simply Marvelous Art About Us, where he sells African American-oriented (and more general) pieces by him and other local artists.

Before coming to Jamaica Market, Tally was a street vendor in Harlem.

And how’s business?

“It’s going well,” Tally said, noting that things could be better. He doesn’t blame the Market, or Southeast Queens, though, but the economy in general.

Born Alfred, Tally’s neighbor in the Market, arrived only three months ago.  He closed his shop on Merrick Boulevard, where business was better but rent was higher, two years ago. After spending some time in limbo, he said, he came to the Market for its lower operating costs.

Alfred’s shop, called Born’s Flavor Shop, is a tiny stall that sells African products like oils, lotions, do-rags, baggy jeans and jerseys and books.

Alfred admits he’s like a small-time version of Nubian Heritage; he even sells some of Nubian Heritage’s lotions, as a reseller.

The resold products are a little more expensive than they are down the street, but Alfred said there’s no competition, noting that he offers convenience.

Business is “so-so,” Alfred noted with a shrug.

“It’s up and down like the weather,” he said.

Some of the other unique small businesses being “incubated” at Jamaica Market include a Christian bookstore, a store selling Ethiopian handicrafts and a fruit juice bar called Let’s Get Juiced.

Outside the Market’s doors, in the freshly paved corridors within its fence and on the sidewalk of 160th Street, are a hat and bag seller named Oumar and a popular flower market that turns into a grocer’s market on weekends during the summer.

In another aspect that makes it similar to Nubian Heritage, Jamaica Market is also a community center.  The Market is often host to live entertainment and fundraising events, and the adjoining Harvest Room conference space hosts many community meetings, including those for the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation.

Jamaica Market is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m, Monday to Saturday.  It’s at 159-15 Jamaica Ave.

Some of the most unique small businesses in Southeast Queens are its independent, family-run restaurants.

There’s Mississippi Buffet, a tiny little space with barely enough room for two people on Guy R. Brewer Boulevard.

There’s the Hot Dog Galley, a highly specialized walk-up space on Jamaica Avenue that is like a hot dog cart but with roof over your head.

There’s Lucille’s Diner, a caboose on Hillside Avenue that dates back to 1969 and is real trip back in time at any time of the day.  Ditto for Carmichael’s Diner, on Brewer Boulevard, which hosts an open jazz jam in its basement on Wednesday nights.

But a reigning king of unique restaurants in Southeast Queens is Jazzabell’s Soul Food, on Brewer in South Jamaica.

The place is almost more a jazz museum than a small neighborhood restaurant.

The walls are lined, as the name may suggest, with big black and white photographs of jazz legends and instruments and figurines from co-owner Frederick W. Clarke’s personal collection.  Jazz plays in the background.

Clarke, a jazz musician from a family of musicians who plays the drums, clarinet, saxophone and “fooled around on the piano,” wanted the restaurant he owns and manages with his wife, Jacqueline Smith, to be unique.

“I’m a jazz fanatic,” he said.  “Most minority-owned stores that have a theme have a sports theme.  When we opened the restaurant, we wanted to do something different.  It’s history in here.  You can learn from it.”

The most busy times at the restaurant are Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as the Sunday rush right after church.  The two owners, who have been married for 23 years, are as friendly as anyone can be, chatting with all the customers, even complete strangers.