Brooklyn, NY – In an effort to protect small businesses, Brooklyn Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind has announced he is working to prevent any additional banks from opening up along 13th Avenue in Borough Park.
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In a press release, Hikind said that the growing number of bank branches along the popular shopping strip has driven up the cost of rents, and has left small business owners unable to compete with the demand for rent increases. According to Hikind, two long-time community fixtures along 13th Avenue – Kosher Delight and the Donut Man – were recently forced to close their doors owing to the higher rent costs.
“It’s hurting our community,” Hikind said. “Small store owners—people whose family businesses have served residents for generations—can no longer afford the rent. There’s already 17 banks in a ten-block span and an 18th one plans to open. That’s plenty.”
Hikind also claims that when local merchants are forced to pay higher rents, they pass the cost on to the consumers. “When rents go up, so do prices,” Hikind said. “Our community members are paying a heavy toll for these banks.”
Hikind said City Councilmen David Greenfield and Brad Lander, as well as Community Board 12 Chairman Yidel Perlstein all “enthusiastically support” his proposed initiative.
yes!!! thank you dov, enough is enough already!
Agree with him but he doesn’t say how its doable.
Thank you
People in Boro Park must be very, very rich to justify so many banks in such a small area. Maybe I should move.
Let me explain. The Bank open on 13th Avenue because they smell money! Klal yisroel as a whole have b’h lots of money. So let there more banks open, its great for the consumer. If the donout man would of had a cleaner store and a better hechser, would have still been in business, and would have been able to support the banks! Same applies to kosher delight.
Oh no! Don’t you interfere with the markets, everybody ends up losing in the end.
Free country
What exactly is the Assemblymans proposal?
13th ave is ruined by now and not allowing for a 20th bank won’t bring the old 13th ave back. To little to late.
Not a care in the world for the realty owners who will lose money as a result of this. Why is KD more important than the Landlord ?
Don’t forget about all the dollars that are going in and out of Israel that needs to go through the banks. If the banks think they can make a buck on 13th ave, let them pay the high rents to the Jewish landlords.
Absolutely crazy to see one bank open after another…some closing,and a new one opening at the same site. Amazing, putting in money to fix up a bank, it’s there for a few months, and boom…they rip it all up and put a new one in its place….all new, as if money is like trash…
We don’t need 20 banks in a half mile radius…who ever heard of such a thing…I know it’s a free country…but…c’mon…this is absurd
In order justify opening a bank branch the bank has to see One Million Dollars in revenue stream (deposits and loan interest) annually. That should tell you something about how much money people have been “hiding in the mattress” in Boro Park. That being said I don’t see why Hikind hasn’t figured out a way to alleviate the parking situation on 13th avenue where the average customer parks for 3-5 minutes for a bank and 45 minutes to an hour for a food establishment. What Hikind fails to point out is more business creates better competition – which in turn means better interest rates for the same business he claims are being forced to shut down. So of all the stores on 13th Ave from 39th till 54th you’re going to tell me 18 banks are affecting the rents??? News flash DOV when people are buying old shmata houses for 2 million dollars to renovate that’s what’s driving up the assumed rent.
Since BP is overflowing with money, let the shnorers concentrate their efforts there!
Who ever heard of such a thing, keeping banks at bay to make room for stores. What’s next, banning jewelry stores who can afford higher rents to prevent driving up rents for pizza shops, who can’t afford them?
Besides, I would think that fewer stores would mean fewer places to spend money, which would benefit the consumer in this society. And, as a bonus, more banks to save that money in.
Dov is 100% right, but its too late unless we get at least 7- 8 banks who are already open to get them to shut down.
More banks better for the consumer? Better how? More free checking its all the same. Don’t forget, 2 banks already closed.
It’s not just these 2 stores. Stores are closing up every other day. Nobody wins with all these banks.
Within the next 5 years at least 4-5 banks that opened will be shot down by itself for lack of business.
Spoons, Amnons, Eichlers don’t have to close, the donutman should have closed even without any bank.
Will someone puleeeeez open a parking lot on 13th ave? That’l be much better than a bank, no?
As a store owner on 13 Ave I agree with Dov. The rent is going up but not because the banks but because of the taxes and fines the City levels at each landlord. That’s the first thing that needs to be stopped.
Dov, why don’t you look at Ave J. One business closes and nothing appears for months. Then a bank or a drugstore appears. How many drugstores do we need?How many banks do we need?
if it really bothered people so much there is a simple solution. close your accounts with any bank operating a branch on 13 avenue and give the reason – they are causing rents to skyrocket on 13 avenue. but to legislate something like that…..that works in Russia, China, Cuba – in this country we have a free market system.
I dont believe any legislation can ban someone of opening a branch if the sign into a lease…What Dov needs is a BOYCOTT …any new bank opening should be boycotted and not a single boro parker should walk in there…Look at most banks on the avenue are 95% empty lines and they are happy when i come in asking for a roll of quarters….By the way DOV since Kosher delight closed i lost 14 lbs…and since Donut man closed my sugars are uneder control…
I take back what I said about opening a parking lot. Bloomberg won’t allow it cuz there will be fewer parking tickets. DUH!!!
Landlords are also small business owners as they’re in the business of renting real estate.
Why take away they’re opportunity of more rental income just so that other shop owners should be left with more profit?
Let all of 13 be banks, that will convert 13th avenue from a parking lot to an actual street with traffic passing through. And stores will learn that they can open stores all over on all avenues and side streets, 13 is overcrowded anyway.
Great move Dov!
But let’s not stop there, did you see how many Jewelry stores are opening on 13th ave, and how many stores are expanding into 2 stores?
That is also contributing to higher rents and it limits smaller stores opportunities because all the big stores took all the space.
We have to stop all of this!
What about the landlords? Why should they be less important than a greasy hamburger?
This same awful phenomenon has long been happening in Brighton Beach. All the small stores close down because they can’t afford new humongous rents, only to be replaced by a bank or a pharmacy (or a fancy Russian clothing shop)! Even the much-needed Met supermarket, which had been a fixture of the neighborhood for many years, closed down when their rent was going to be tripled (from $30K to $90K a month!), leaving the area bereft of that so-valuable, necessary local resource. This syndrome is very bad for individuals in the local communities in which it happens!
Let’s see. No more banks on 13th Ave will cause rents not to go up? Expenses keep going up because of taxes charged to us & THAT causes rent to go up.
There’s no doubt that Boro-Park has many more struggling families than wealthy ones!
(I don’t begrudge the wealthy.)
The problem is that these banks also make a fortune from the broke costumers, in the form of bank fees, late fees, higher interest-rates, etc.
The old BP will never return to what it once was…nothing does. I went back and could not recognize MY neighborhood, 13th Ave. & 56th st., sad for me, but people have a choice in what they allow to happen along with Hashem’s guidance.
banks and jewelry stores and silver stores…kinda tells you that there is major money being spent there
Oh politics oh politics. Dov Hikind is the one that has been attending all these banks ribbon cutting openings ceremonies for the last year.
It is rarely a good idea to mess with the free market. Whatever the various stores that closed were selling, others filled the need or will fill the need soon. Also, it seems to me that the reason for these banks is twofold. There is a higher concentration of people in the area (higher percentage of residential to commercial areas in BP than other places) and many people from other areas make a trip to 13th Avenue on a regular basis.
Kosher Delight has good hot, fresh and fun food. Their hechsher was impeccable. The landlord in his greed smelled another bank coming, so he sold out KD instead of allowing a fun family place to eat. Amnon has nothing to worry about. I understand he owns half the block. Spoons charges a fortune for their not so tasty food, so they should be ok. After so many years, why did Flohr’s go out of business? It was a fixture. Their rent was probably so high, they couldn’t afford to update the place. Eichler owns his building. The Donut Man needed to clean his place up. It was dirty, tasteless. Maybe if the rent wasn’t so high, they could have stayed in business. It’s the little guys like him that are having a hard time paying rents to greedy landlords who do nothing to fix their buildings and many of them have paid their mortgages over twice. They only have to pay the taxes on them. So, I think Dov is right, but too late. It should have been done 10 banks ago. Chase owns two banks on 13th Ave because they know that in the long run it’s cheaper for them than to have a competitor go in there.