East Village Explosion Still Hurting Mom and Pops

East Village Explosion Still Hurts Mom and Pops

Over two months have passed since a gas explosion rocked Manhattan's East Village. But the business community is still struggling to rebound from the deadly blast.

Mariann Marlowe opened her Rockabilly boutique Enz's nearly forty years ago.  Since then, it's been an East Village icon drawing in costumers from as far away as Norway.

She said that last month's gas explosion has had devastating effects on her business, forcing her to close up shop for a little over 2 months. According to Marlowe, the costs for her business included nearly $100,000 in lost revenues and $30,000 in repairs to replace sheetrock and remove mold. Her insurance policy covered nothing.

It's been a daily challenge since the blast for Marlowe. She said, " yesterday the rain and dampness forced me to close because  the store smelled of smoke and I became ill .. so that was another day loss, its hard. It's a hard struggle."

Marlowe emphasized how lucky she was, however, in comparison to other victims of the tragedy, and she's sad to see longstanding places like Sam's Deli shutdown. She said, "these places are what make the East Village the East Village."

Last Friday City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and other lawmakers held a small business crawl to help mom and pop shops in the area.  Marlowe said that while the visit was nice, it's going to take a lot more from government to help the struggling business owners.

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