Long Island Merchants Share Lessons Learned During Coronavirus

LONG ISLAND, NY — The coronavirus pandemic shook the foundation of the world for more than a year. The tremors were felt on a personal level as families dealt with various types of loss.

From a financial perspective, small business owners were hit especially hard. Many storefronts were forced to temporarily shut their doors to the public as mandates prevented people from shopping in person in a bid to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Some have been permanently shuttered as a result.

Through the support of their communities and loyal customer bases, many small businesses survived to tell the tale of the outbreak; merchants all the wiser for the ordeal.

Without further ado, here is the biggest lesson that small business owners say they learned during the coronavirus pandemic:

• Lisa Harris, owner of Prohibition Kitchen and Torte Jeff in Port Jefferson: "Maintaining the ability to pivot and adapt was crucial during times of uncertainty."
• Joe Fortuna, owner of The Nutty Irishman and 317 Main Street in Farmingdale: "Honestly, invest in a community that supports businesses. Farmingdale gets an A+. Secondly, invest in a state that supports businesses. NYS gets an F."
• Donald Rosner, owner of Blue Line Deli in Huntington: "I guess the lesson here is you never know when mother nature is going to take a slap shot at humanity and, when she does, what matters most is taking care of each other and making sure we all do our part to keep each other safe. The communities we live in will always need support and if nobody steps up, then it only makes things worse. So be there for your community and support the people around you!"
• Neil Goldberg, owner of Main Street Board Game Cafe in Huntington: "Small brick & mortar businesses need to find some way to bring their products and services to their customers in the digital space. We built a website to sell games online for pick-up and delivery as well as moving our After-School Dungeons & Dragons program online. We heard from many parents it was a lifesaver and now we have kids in it from all over the country. Vibrant, unique small businesses are the key to walkable, livable neighborhoods. They provide far more value in terms of tax revenue and local home values than big box stores. The communities that prioritize small businesses in terms of making the town welcoming to interesting concepts rather than just chasing the next Costco will come out ahead in the long run."
• John Kanaras, co-owner of Whiskey Down Diner in Farmingdale: "You already know getting into business to expect the unexpected, but the pandemic amplified that truth. When you get thrown a curveball, your first instinct needs to be to settle down and examine the situation. Adapt the best that you can, there is always a solution and try your best to stay ahead of the inevitable issues."
• Pete Panarites, owner of Northport Sweet Shop in Northport: "This was unknown waters. There was nothing like this that's ever happened. You had a virus that came out, and in the beginning, no one knew exactly what this was all about ... How did I handle it? I didn't know exactly what to do, but I had to follow the rules and regulations. They shut me down, as many other businesses ... So how do you handle it? It's very tough. What saved me is was I had a long cash reserve ... My niece, my sister, and my nephew worked with me. My niece went on the computer and advertised mail-order deliveries. That seemed to work and helped us out a lot ... The reason I survived was I have a cash reserve which got me through ... We stuck together as a family to get through this. That's the bottom line."
• Bill Kiernan, co-owner of Sand City Brewing Co. in Northport and Lindenhurst: "I think we learned to be thankful for what you have and always give back."
• Manny Coehlo, co-owner of Lithology Brewing Co. in Farmingdale: "I would have to say the biggest thing I have learned is to be open-minded to change. Sometimes we get so used to one way of doing things we don’t realize there might be a different way that could be more beneficial. The pandemic forced people to step back a moment and look at their business a different way and change things up to be able to keep moving forward. Some things worked; others not so much. But in the end, it made everyone be able to handle change better."
• Gina Nisi, owner of Carl's Candies in Northport: "The biggest lesson I've learned is to not be afraid to try something new. In March 2020 when we closed our store, we immediately offered local delivery and curbside pick up. And we quickly relaunched our website to become e-commerce to be able to make online sales as well. We changed our business model within days of shutting down in-store shopping. Since we began offering home delivery during the height of the pandemic, it really helped us reach a new customer base. We delivered to Commack, Huntington, Greenlawn, Centerport as well as East Northport and Northport. We definitely gained some new loyal customers. This wasn't easy, we worked 15-hour days, 7 days a week, but we had to keep the lights on since the bills didn't stop coming in."
• Wesam Hassanin, bar manager of Po'Boy Brewery in Port Jefferson Station: "I believe the biggest takeaway from the pandemic was how floored we were from the outpouring of our amazing community! We were showered with love and support by so many to help us survive the covid chaos. So much so, that we were able to expand our tasting room, instituted online ordering and even purchased new equipment!! Our 'Po'Folk' would come in weekly and support us by purchasing several 4-packs and growlers to go. We changed up our beer styles and added tons of fun flavors to our tap wall weekly to keep things different and evolving! I believe that how and where we’re drinking has changed drastically for the future. We went from consuming most of our craft beer from draft lines in our tasting room together; to drinking, more often solo or with your family, from cans on the couch. I believe this trend will continue. We’re consuming differently, and we’re ordering our beers differently. I don't think that to-go beers and ciders or online ordering is going to go away any time soon. Who knows what else the future holds, but I hope that we forever have the support of our wonderful community! Cheers!"
• Gabe Haim, owner of Oyster Bay Brewing Company in Oyster Bay: "No matter how hard it gets, and how uncertain the future looks, don’t be afraid to roll up your sleeves and do the work. Put all of your mental and physical effort into every day, because you don’t know what tomorrow brings."
• Sharon Sailor, owner of Front Street Station restaurant in Greenport: "I’ve learned that love of what you do has to be foremost in my life! I would never have survived the pandemic without feeling my business is my family and my passion! If it was easy everyone would do it, but when you love it even the harshest times bring you new happiness and unforeseen treasures!"
• Peter Dragone, co-owner of Alibi Speakeasy in Farmingdale and One Eye Jacks in Bethpage: "In this industry, we are always learning even during 'normal pre Covid life,' but this past year has been a nightmare for all businesses — especially the hospitality and restaurant/bar industry. It put our minds, experience and creativity to the test. There are some positive changes that should stay forever, and the big one is the outdoor dining ... Alibi was able to create an outdoor patio when we were allowed to reopen and we also reopened with a brand new menu to create even more excitement. One Eye Jacks had an outdoor patio already but was able to expand it and make it double the size. We also turned a bar into a takeout restaurant and are on all platforms including DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub. And the biggest accomplishment of all during the shutdown was ... at One Eye Jacks we used our parking lot and ran 3 drive-in movie nights which all sold out. Being able to pull that off is an honor and I’m proud of the entire staff for pitching in to make it successful."
• Jerry DiCecco, owner of Jerry & the Mermaid in Riverhead: "I learned when times get tough, like they did the last year, you have to give 110% effort to just survive. We needed to constantly adapt all aspects of our business over and over to keep up with the rapidly changing world. Create something new, transform customers' expectations, give back to your community, help others in need and just do what is right and you hopefully stood a chance to survive. It has been an incredibly tough year on my industry and I thank God that I can say I survived COVID. I wish the same could be said about so many other amazing businesses that didn’t stand a chance for various reasons. My heart goes out to everyone who wasn’t as lucky as we were. I’m thankful that the worst is behind us and we are back on the right path."
• Paul Dlugokencky, co-owner of Blind Bat Brewery Bistro & Take-Away in Centerport: "Being flexible has been key, we have been very fortunate with supportive regular (and new) customers who adapted along with us. We are so very humbled and appreciative that they have allowed us to stay open for business. We have done our best to create a safe space. For some that means bringing their orders out to them curbside. For others, it means demonstrating that we are serious about practicing proper public health protocols for indoor as well as outdoor on-premise consumption."

Patch's Lisa Finn contributed to this report.