![]() “On our customers’ side, we definitely understand certain parts. Gina Ma, owner of a souvenir and gift shop said that, while the winter months are typically slower, only one or two customers are stopping in around lunchtime. Though Chinatown is most known for its dining spots, other types of businesses have taken hits. “I’m not even Chinese … He’s really attacking me because I look a certain way.” In Los Angeles, a woman said a man directed a rant about the coronavirus toward her. ![]() The decline in business in Chinatown coincides with an uptick in xenophobic attacks against people of Asian descent around the world. “It’s one word: terrible,” one employee at a restaurant said. Though they declined to speak on the record since their managers were not in at the time, multiple employees at restaurants throughout New York’s Chinatown said coronavirus fears has resulted in a noticeable decline in business. “People may be scared to come to Chinatown – it’s understandable.”Ī woman walks in Chinatown on 13 February. “Before we put a notice for hiring, and now I have to take it off,” Chang said. Business has been down by about 20%, forcing her and her co-owners to cut staff. ![]() Just down the street from Yin Ji Chang Fen, Julia Chang was the sole waitress taking orders at Julia Tea & Dim Sum House, the restaurant that bears her name. But Ching said it was about half of what they would usually get before fears over the virus started. Though the restaurant was packed to the brim with customers when it opened in September, the number of patrons dropped off by about 40% once news of the virus spread, Ching said.īefore the typical lunch rush, Yin Ji Chang Fen had just a few tables open on Wednesday morning. “We laid off about 40% of our staff to maintain the business because we’re getting less profit,” said David Ching, owner of Yin Ji Chang Fen, the sole New York outlet of a popular rice noodle roll chain in Guangzhou, China. Though Wuhan is nearly 7,500 miles (12,000km) from New York City, and there have been no confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the city or state of New York, Chinatown business owners say their restaurant and shops are taking hits over fears of the virus.
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