Universal Barber Shop on Broadway would normally be bustling this time of year with Columbia University students and their parents getting last-minute haircuts before graduation, Alex Khafizov said.
But the day after Columbia announced it was canceling its main commencement ceremony in light of ongoing protests on campus, Khafizov’s shop was empty.
“It’s very hard,” he said. “But nothing we can do.”
As protests against Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza have roiled New York City’s Ivy League university and sparked similar movements at colleges across the country, businesses near Columbia said they’ve taken a financial hit in recent weeks. Interviews at more than 10 stores, restaurants and street carts on the blocks surrounding the Morningside Heights campus revealed that street closures, police activity and tight restrictions on access to university buildings have caused a drop in income for many local vendors.
Several shops told Gothamist they have experienced an uptick in business in recent weeks, including Gary Calder, who said more people have been making copies at his shop, the Village Copier, because the campus libraries have been closed. A cashier at a neighborhood deli said reporters covering the protests have been coming in to buy food.
But many said fewer customers have visited since the campus closed. Some said they have cut hours and assigned workers to fewer shifts.
Universal Barber Shop on Broadway
Samantha Max / Gothamist
Peter Asan, who runs Subs Conscious on Amsterdam Avenue, said his sandwich shop has been struggling to stay open with the drop in foot traffic from students and campus workers, who he said make up about 85% of his customers.
“Whatever happens to the university affects us tremendously,” he said.
Johnny Gjolaj at V&T Italian Restaurant said he’s spoken with student activists and supports their protests. But he said fewer students have been coming in to eat. He’s bracing for a major impact around graduation, when the restaurant would typically be busy with celebratory meals.
“I understand what’s going on, so I understand why this is happening,” Gjolaj said. “But yeah, it definitely doesn’t help.”
Janoff’s Stationery on Broadway has also been particularly quiet in recent weeks, said Jerry Ma, whose father bought the shop more than four decades ago. He said the store, which is packed with pens, easels, greeting cards and art supplies, never fully recovered after COVID-19, and is once again struggling with fewer students around.
“I hope it’s worth it for whoever’s protesting,” Ma said. “I’m not saying that as a wise guy. I hope that they feel strongly about what they’re doing.”
Maher Mohammed, who operates a halal cart on the corner of 114th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, said he closed for two days during the height of the protests but has mostly returned to normal business operations since then.
Philip Binioris, owner of the Hungarian Pastry Shop, said he hopes his cafe can be a space where people across the ideological spectrum can feel safe.
Samantha Max / Gothamist
“Everything’s OK,” he said. “That’s not big deal, sitting home for two days.”
Still busy at the Hungarian Pastry Shop
Around noon on Tuesday, the Hungarian Pastry Shop on the corner of 111th Street and Amsterdam Avenue was filled with students drinking coffees and munching on pastries. Like most days, a line snaked out the door and onto the sidewalk.
The cafe is an off-campus staple where students and writers convene over slices of carrot cake and massive hamantaschen cookies. While owner Philip Binioris said he hasn’t seen much of a fluctuation in business in the last few weeks, he added that graduation week will be a “test.”
He said pro-Palestinian activists and Israeli students share the space at the Hungarian Pastry Shop peacefully. On Tuesday afternoon, a young woman wearing a keffiyeh typed on her laptop by the window while a group sitting outside chatted in Hebrew and took selfies. Binioris wishes Columbia’s campus could foster a similar environment, where “nobody feels left out or isolated or marginalized.”
“That should be a vision and a hope for everywhere,” he said.