Local mom-and-pop businesses have been on edge ever since American Greetings executives told their workers on Jan. 6 that they were looking at moving to another city or state with lower income taxes.
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Charlie Yun, owner of Prime Stations gas station and convenience store on the corner of Tiedeman Road and Memphis Avenue, down the street from American Greetings, says his will be the first business hurt if the greeting card company pulls out of Brooklyn.BROOKLYN, Ohio - Few people are as anxious about the prospect of American Greetings Corp. pulling out of Brooklyn as the small businesses who cater to its nearly 2,000 employees.
Local mom-and-pop businesses have been on edge ever since executives of the nation's largest publicly held greeting card company told their workers on Jan. 6 that they were looking at moving to another city or state with lower income taxes.
A spokeswoman said the company hasn't decided what to do.
Residents of this largely industrial, blue-collar city voted on May 5, 2009, to raise Brooklyn's income tax 25 percent to 2.5 percent. The measure passed by 43 votes.
But local business owners who didn't participate in that vote worry they'll be penalized if it ends up driving the city's largest employer out of town.
Charlie Yun, owner of the Prime Stations gas station and convenience shop on the corner of Tiedeman Road and Memphis Avenue, just down the street from American Greetings, said he'd be the first business hurt if the company leaves.
"A lot of people stop by here to get gas, coffee or cigarettes before they go to work, and many of them come back after work to play the lottery," he said.
"I ask them: 'So what's going on with your company? Is it true that you might be moving?' And they say they don't know. I hope it's not true."
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Unidentified American Greetings employees enjoy lunch at Aldo's Italian Restaurant on Memphis Avenue in Brooklyn. Aldo's chef and owner, Aldo Zappa, says half of his lunch crowd comes from American Greetings. Aldo Zappa, owner and chef of Aldo's Italian Restaurant on Memphis Avenue, says he would love to cater a summit between American Greetings Chief Executive Zev Weiss and Brooklyn Mayor Richard Balbier.
He said he would happily pile their plates with pasta, veal, seafood and other Italian dishes and "tell them to please work it out."
Zappa and his son, Matteo, estimate that half of their lunch crowd, and about 30 percent of their customers the rest of the day, work at the company.
Besides being the city's largest employer, "American Greetings is the backbone of our community," Aldo Zappa said.
"When I started here 23 years ago, they really helped me get the business going, and I still get quite a bit of business from them," he said of the Weiss family and their employees.
"Every time a big company leaves a town like this, it affects everybody, there's no question about it. A small city like this, they need a company like this."
Greg Frey, president of the 76-member Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, said the company's departure would devastate the business community.
"Our members are overwhelmingly small businesses," he said. "They're restaurant owners, dry cleaners and small manufacturers" who depend on American Greetings staying in town.
Joe Norman, owner of Norman Discount Tire & Service, an authorized Goodyear dealership on Bellaire Road, said a quarter of his business comes from repairing and maintaining American Greetings' company cars, personal cars and fleet cars.
It took him 15 years to build up that business, and the last thing he wants to do is watch the company leave town, he said.
At Hudec Dental on Memphis Avenue, Office Manager Bonnie Argento said a good number of patients from American Greetings come in during their lunch hours because it's so convenient.
Memphis Smokehouse owner Dwight Hughes said: "We'd definitely lose some customers, but I don't know how many."
He hopes his regular customers enjoy his cigars, loose tobacco and smokes enough to keep coming in even if they have to drive a bit farther to get here.
Joe Sarkis, a clerk at Quick Stop Food Mart on Memphis Avenue, is counting on American Greetings' workers to patronize the Pita Spot, a carry-out pita and gyro place he's opening next-door in February.
At Kensington One Hour Dry Cleaning on West 117th Street, owner Yung Kim worries about losing the 25 or more customers from American Greetings who bring their shirts and dry cleaning to his family business.
"I hope they'll stay here, but I don't know," he said, throwing up his hands. "I cannot control" what they do.
After the Hugo Boss factory nearly closed in April, Aldo Zappa said losing American Greetings would be even worse.
Other cities might have lower income taxes, "but they're not going to offer Aldo's," he said of his restaurant.
"I would do anything to keep them here," he added. "If American Greetings stays here, I would give them free dessert."