Chinatown businesses not giving up, trying to recoup losses 2 years into pandemic
NEW YORK -- It's been two years since the start of the pandemic and all signs point to a recovery for Chinatown.
Businesses are reopening and trying to recoup some of the losses, CBS2's Christina Fan reported Thursday.
Auspicious and lucky characters not only line the streets of Chinatown, they're well wishes motivating families to bounce back.
Of all the neighborhoods battered by COVID-19 in New York City, Chinatown was the first to suffer from the stigma of the virus and the last to recover.
"Stepping onto the streets was kind of eerie at some moments and it kind of made me think, wow, is this really going to be the end of Chinatown?" said Karho Leung, who owns 12 Pell.
When Leung first reopened his barbershop after the 3-month lockdown, there were days when he only had four clients.
A couple blocks away at Mott Street Eatery, a new-style food court, the owners have been struggling to turn a profit since opening five months ago. But they're pushing forward with a sense of duty.
"I want to bring everything in, you could try different things, let people understand the culture, everything about Chinese," Tam Wan Yu said.
"It was particularly important that we continue to maintain our identity and have this gathering place," Leung said.
Justin Yu with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce said that tenacity, passed from generation to generation of Asian Americans, is slowly bringing Chinatown back.
"I have never seen so many young people coming back to town, coming back to help," Yu said.
They're coming back to take part in activism. Ben Wei formed the nonprofit Asians Fighting Injustice after anti-Asian hate crimes jumped 343 percent in New York City from 2020-2021.
"We primarily help and assist victims of hate crimes, give them the support that they need so that these attacks don't happen in the future," Wei said.
Two years after the pandemic started, Chinatown feels more seen, foot traffic is returning and the younger generation feels more connected than ever to their community.
"We ran a promotion and said if you come down to Chinatown and spend $45 anywhere in the neighborhood, we'll give you a free haircut," Leung said. "We operate as a team with the whole community and I think that's the most beautiful thing that came out of the pandemic."
Shared values of fortitude and resilience inherited from their ancestors are helping the new generation build upon what the old have created.