Business_Spotlight_-_Nr.2_2020

NEW YORK SPECIAL 2/2020 Business Spotlight 17

Fotos: Sandy Ching/Unsplash; Richard B. Levine/ddp; privat

The most noticeable development in the city now is Billionaires’

Row on 57th Street. Towers high enough to challenge airplane

flight patterns are rising, with apartments selling for hundreds

of millions — astronomical sums. (I’m reminded of the state

motto, although I don’t think New York’s founders had rent in

mind when they chose excelsior.) Meanwhile, commerce on the

avenues is suffering.

The most noteworthy items of local business news of the past

year reflect this trend. Online giants such as Amazon or Google

and what we call “big box stores” — large, inexpensive chain re-

tailers such as Walmart, Home Depot, or Costco — are the only

businesses that can afford the rising prices. Last year, however,

New Yorkers did manage to keep Amazon from opening it’s

HQ2, its second headquarters, in Queens, which would have

cost the city’s taxpayers billions, and crowded the subways and

raised local rents even more. In this case, we won the battle, but

we are still losing the war.

Not even expensive stores can afford the rent. The high-end

New York department store chain Barneys filed for bankruptcy

last year after the rent for its flagship store on Madison Avenue

doubled to $30 million per year. At Christmas, the luxurious

store was filled with big red “SALE %” signs and with people who

normally could never afford to shop there. It looked more like a

Woolworth’s than a fancy department store for the rich and fa-

mous. It’s no wonder that one of the longest-running Broadway

musicals in history — about the struggles of life in New York —

was called “RENT.”

Recently, the New York Post published results of a poll in which

New Yorkers were voted “the unfriendliest Americans” by other

Americans. When doing business with New Yorkers — whether

you’re a partner, an investor, or a tourist out shopping — out-

siders have to understand that New Yorkers want things now, or,

better still, yesterday. Efficiency, convenience, turnover, and ser-

vice are what counts. So, if you’re doing business with us, please

remember we really are all just trying to make it here, like the

song says, and we are all trying to pay for a roof over our heads.

JUDITH GILBERT

is a writer, editor, translator, and

photographer who divides her time

between New York City and a small town

in Bavaria.

billion [(bIljEn]

, Milliarde(n)

billionaire [)bIljE(ne&r*]

, Milliardär

development

[di(velEpmEnt]

,^ hier: Bauprojekt

fancy [(fÄnsi] , nobel

file for bankruptcy

[)faI&l f&r (bÄNkrVptsi*]

, Insolvenz anmelden

flight pattern

[(flaIt )pÄt&rn*]

, Flugbahn

founder [(faUnd&r*]

, Gründer(in)

headquarters

[(hed)kwO:rt&rz*]

, Hauptniederlassung

item of news

[)aItEm Ev (nu:z*]

, eine Nachricht, Neuigkeit

poll [poUl*] , Umfrage

retailer [(ri:teI&l&r*]

, Einzelhändler(in)

subway [(sVbweI] US

, U-Bahn

turnover [(t§:n)oUv&r*]

, Umsatz

Sign of the times:

an empty store

* This symbol marks stan-

dard US pronunciation.

Sign of the times:

an empty store

SPECIAL REPORT