Tourists few, NY gift shops struggle but don’t lose (heart) | National News
A shop keeper at a gift shop along 34th Street stands on the sidewalk waiting for customers, Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, in New York. In souvenir shops from Times Square to the World Trade Center, shelves full of T-shirts and trinkets still love New York, as the slogan goes. But the proprietors wonder when their customers will, again. The coronavirus has altered many aspects of life and business in the United States’ biggest city, and the pandemic is taking a major toll on the gifts-and-luggage stores that dot tourist-friendly areas. After setting records year after year since 2010, travel to New York has plummeted during the pandemic.
Souvenir snow globes featuring New York City themes are on display for sale at Memories of New York gift shop, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020, in New York. In souvenir shops from Times Square to the World Trade Center, shelves full of T-shirts and trinkets still love New York, as the slogan goes. But the proprietors wonder when their customers will, again. The coronavirus has altered many aspects of life and business in the United States’ biggest city, and the pandemic is taking a major toll on the gifts-and-luggage stores that dot tourist-friendly areas. After setting records year after year since 2010, travel to New York has plummeted during the pandemic.
New York City souvenir T-shirts are on display for sale at a gift shop, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020, in New York’s Times Square. In souvenir shops from Times Square to the World Trade Center, shelves full of T-shirts and trinkets still love New York, as the slogan goes. But the proprietors wonder when their customers will, again. The coronavirus has altered many aspects of life and business in the United States’ biggest city, and the pandemic is taking a major toll on the gifts-and-luggage stores that dot tourist-friendly areas. After setting records year after year since 2010, travel to New York has plummeted during the pandemic.
New York City postcards are seen on display for sale at a closed gift shop, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020, in New York’s Times Square. In souvenir shops from Times Square to the World Trade Center, shelves full of T-shirts and trinkets still love New York, as the slogan goes. But the proprietors wonder when their customers will, again. The coronavirus has altered many aspects of life and business in the United States’ biggest city, and the pandemic is taking a major toll on the gifts-and-luggage stores that dot tourist-friendly areas. After setting records year after year since 2010, travel to New York has plummeted during the pandemic.
Figurines depicting King Kong on top of the Empire State Building are on display for sale at a gift shop in Lower Manhattan, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. In souvenir shops from Times Square to the World Trade Center, shelves full of T-shirts and trinkets still love New York, as the slogan goes. But the proprietors wonder when their customers will, again. The coronavirus has altered many aspects of life and business in the United States’ biggest city, and the pandemic is taking a major toll on the gifts-and-luggage stores that dot tourist-friendly areas. After setting records year after year since 2010, travel to New York has plummeted during the pandemic.
Statue of Liberty figurines are on display for sale at a gift shop in Lower Manhattan, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. In souvenir shops from Times Square to the World Trade Center, shelves full of T-shirts and trinkets still love New York, as the slogan goes. But the proprietors wonder when their customers will, again. The coronavirus has altered many aspects of life and business in the United States’ biggest city, and the pandemic is taking a major toll on the gifts-and-luggage stores that dot tourist-friendly areas. After setting records year after year since 2010, travel to New York has plummeted during the pandemic.
Visitors to New York’s Times Square browse through the “I Love NY” T-shirts for sale at a gift shop, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020, in New York. In souvenir shops from Times Square to the World Trade Center, shelves full of T-shirts and trinkets still love New York, as the slogan goes. But the proprietors wonder when their customers will, again. The coronavirus has altered many aspects of life and business in the United States’ biggest city, and the pandemic is taking a major toll on the gifts-and-luggage stores that dot tourist-friendly areas. After setting records year after year since 2010, travel to New York has plummeted during the pandemic.
New York Yellow Cab toy cars are on display for sale at a gift shop in Lower Manhattan, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. In souvenir shops from Times Square to the World Trade Center, shelves full of T-shirts and trinkets still love New York, as the slogan goes. But the proprietors wonder when their customers will, again. The coronavirus has altered many aspects of life and business in the United States’ biggest city, and the pandemic is taking a major toll on the gifts-and-luggage stores that dot tourist-friendly areas. After setting records year after year since 2010, travel to New York has plummeted during the pandemic.
A sign announcing a special on T-shirts is placed on the sidewalk outside a gift shop in Lower Manhattan, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. In souvenir shops from Times Square to the World Trade Center, shelves full of T-shirts and trinkets still love New York, as the slogan goes. But the proprietors wonder when their customers will, again. The coronavirus has altered many aspects of life and business in the United States’ biggest city, and the pandemic is taking a major toll on the gifts-and-luggage stores that dot tourist-friendly areas. After setting records year after year since 2010, travel to New York has plummeted during the pandemic.
NEW YORK (AP) — In souvenir shops from Times Square to the World Trade Center, shelves full of T-shirts and trinkets still (heart) New York. But the proprietors wonder when their customers will, again.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken a voracious bite out of a slice of New York life as recognizable as a piece of pizza: the gifts-slash-luggage-and-sometimes-slash-electronics stores that dot tourist-friendly areas, offering Statue of Liberty figurines, toy taxis, NYPD ballcaps, Big Apple fridge magnets and anything and everything emblazoned with the famous “I (HEART) NY” logo. The memento markets are enough of a New York institution that a recent ”Saturday Night Live” skit was set in one.
Like the miniature-skyline snow globes they sell, the shops are a microcosm of a city that has thrived on drawing visitors from around the world and now is feeling their near-absence.
“It’s a fight for survival,” Ali Zaidi said one recent morning at his shop two blocks from the World Trade Center. And with coronavirus cases rising and winter approaching, what would normally be the build-up to a busy holiday season instead is ”getting worse and worse, day by day.”
Before the pandemic, his Broadway Gifts store generally got hundreds of customers a day — many tourists, but also local office workers looking for gloves, cell phone chargers or other practical items, he said. Now, with few out-of-town visitors and many locals still working from home, an average day might bring 25 to 50 people and $300 or less in sales, a small fraction of business as usual, says Zaidi, who has another souvenir store in midtown Manhattan.
Tourists few, NY gift shops struggle but don’t lose (heart) | National News Source link Tourists few, NY gift shops struggle but don’t lose (heart) | National News
