NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — While some areas of the state are well into Phase 2 of the reopening process, New York City continues to struggle to return to normal.
Union Square in Manhattan is among the many areas in the five boroughs that are in recovery mode, according to WCBS 880’s Marla Diamond.
It was also among the areas struck by looters during the first days of civil unrest over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Paragon Sporting Goods reopened its bike store in late May, according to company COO Zachary Blank, only to have it damaged and looted in the violence.
“As you can see our store is boarded up currently,” he explains. “Two Sundays ago, we did have a break-in. We had lots of bikes taken as well as a variety of other merchandise.”
He says the COVID-19 shutdown and the vandalism hurt the business, but they’re working on fixing it again.
“It does feel good to be going in the right direction once again,” he said.
The neighborhood is slowly getting back on its feet says Jennifer Falk, the President of the Union Square partnership.
“Some businesses are waiting until next week to really ramp up their marketing efforts out of respect for recent events which we fully support,” she explains.
One bright spot has been the Green Market, Diamond reports. It remained opened during the pandemic and draws people from all over to Union Square.