By Andrea Appleton
Contributing Writer
Small business owners in Highbridge have been concerned about rising gasoline prices all year, but in September the long arm of Hurricane Katrina reached the Bronx. The recent jump in gas prices has not only made customers less likely to spend, but also has made it more expensive for vendors to bring in their products.
"People tell me I'm a thief," said Alberto Luna, 43, who runs a street-side fruit stand on the Edward L. Grant Highway. "They say avocados don't contain gasoline."
Unleaded gas prices in New York City went up an average of 72 cents in the first week of September, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, though they have since decreased slightly. Much of the country's crude oil production was halted by the recent hurricane destruction along the Southern coast, causing nationwide price jumps.
For vendors like Luna who import their products from near and far, fuel prices are key. Luna recently had to raise prices on the produce he sells because he is paying more to buy it from his supplier. He said that before Katrina, for example, a box of eight avocados cost him $8. Now a box of seven costs $15. "If the situation continues like this," he said, "those of us that have businesses on the street will disappear."
Willy Simrin, 43, owns One Stop Live Market, a live poultry and livestock store on Cromwell Avenue. He said this month's gas price hikes have had a huge effect on his business. "Prices have gone up and suppliers don't want to go out of their way, if we're short of broilers, for example," he said. Many of the lambs, goats, and poultry that Simrin sells are brought in on truck trailers from farms in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Simrin is not charging any more than before for his products, even though he says his chicken supplier, for one, raised prices after the hurricane, the third hike in three months. "We can't raise our prices because our customers aren't used to it," he said.
Many small-time vendors can barely afford the price increases in products. Carmen Vasquez has been selling ice cream from her cart in Mullaly Park for twelve years. She said she knows several vendors who are giving up their carts because they cannot make a profit.
"This year has been worse than ever," she said. "It's awful, with the gas prices." Vasquez said that the price of the large containers of ice cream she buys has gone up 15 percent since the hurricane.
Customer loyalty is helping some local businesses retain their patrons so far. On a recent warm afternoon, Luna, the fruit stand owner, was constantly getting up from his seat in the shade to cut a piece of sugar cane for someone or help choose a mango. "But," he said, "when they hear how much the pineapple costs, they say, 'No, thanks.'" |
