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A plastic sign standing outside Habiba’s Ethiopian Kitchen said the restaurant was open, but no customers were inside. It was lunchtime on Wednesday, and before the coronavirus pandemic, customers would have been filing into the restaurant that Habiba Boru has run since it opened on North Salina Street in 2018.

Boru, an Ethiopian refugee, enjoyed singing with her staff and cooking up staples such as lentils and injera, or Ethopian flatbread. She loved when it was busy — when customers waited an hour for tables. But now, over six months into a pandemic that has altered the restaurant industry, those tables were empty.

“People are still scared,” Boru said. “It’s the fear of the unknown.”

The streets would normally be bustling around lunchtime, but now they are nowhere near what they used to be, Boru said. Almost all the stops on North Salina Street, from Dunkin’ to Habiba’s, showed the same message on their windows stating that customers must wear a mask. Sometimes, Boru’s 2011 Toyota Sienna would be one of the only cars parked on the street.

Down the street, an Italian flag hangs near Biscotti Cafe. Both the cafe and Boru’s restaurant are located in “Little Italy,” centered on North Salina Street. Though Italians and Germans settled in the district in the 19th and 20th centuries, immigrants from all across the world have settled in Syracuse’s Northside and developed family-owned businesses for the past few decades, said Danny Liedka, CEO and president of Visit Syracuse.

Now, all the businesses have had to adapt to COVID-19 restrictions for months and find different ways to generate business.

“As time goes on and the longer this lasts and the more businesses that go under — that’s the last thing we want to see here,” Liedka said. “I hope these folks and their businesses can get back on their feet soon.”

Before the pandemic, Habiba’s Ethiopian Kitchen could have customers waiting an hour for lunch. On Wednesday during lunchtime, there were no customers. Sarah Lee | Asst. Photo Editor

Boru estimates over $10,000 of her revenue has been lost because of the pandemic, causing her to have to reach into her own pockets to pay her bills. She temporarily closed her restaurant in March and shifted to spending her time watching the news “24/7” in the four-bedroom townhouse she shares with her children and husband.

After her customers told her through email and social media that they missed her food, she reopened Habiba’s in late April to do takeout orders. She’s still taking orders and seating customers, but in fewer numbers than before the pandemic.

Boru can’t interact with her customers as much, which is one of her favorite parts of being a restaurant owner. She used to come out of her kitchen to form connections, even while she was busy with orders. Boru now leaves her kitchen more often and sits in her restaurant, waiting for customers to come back and reminiscing on how busy it used to be.

“It’s day and night,” Boru said. “It has been extremely slow.”

A few blocks down from Habiba’s, at Lombardi’s Import Market on Butternut Street, one customer held a stuffed grocery basket while another balanced an armful of pasta bags. Co-owner Dominick Lombardi and his family saw an increase in the grocery store’s customers during the pandemic, Dominick said.

Regina Lombardi checked out one customer with an armful of pasta bags and another one with a loaded grocery basket. Emily Steinberger | Photo Editor

It wasn’t that way in the beginning, though. Business was bad in the first two to three weeks when everything was shut down in March.

On Monday, Dominick and his sister Rosina stood in the backroom of Lombardi’s. A laptop and neatly-organized yellow envelopes sat near Rosina. Lombardi’s has been shipping its products both locally and across the country on Amazon for years as a third-party seller. Amazon “carried them” for those early weeks during the pandemic, and Lombardi’s still ships products such as pasta and canned tomatoes, Dominick said.

Things began to look up when restaurants in New York state closed for a period of time, as people would cook for themselves and turn to Lombardi’s for ingredients. And when commercial grocery stores would run out of pasta, Lombardi’s would be there, Dominick said.

Though weekends at Lombardi’s have been “crazy” when it comes to business, the Lombardis are still worried. Restaurants are now opened at half capacity, and Dominick doesn’t know what the winter will bring. But on the outside door of the grocery store, hand-written reminders tell customers to social distance and wear a mask. They’re prepared.

“We got a routine now,” Rosina said.

“Well, in the beginning we felt really unsafe, I gotta say,” Dominick said.

A man then walked past with his shirt collar covering his face as a substitute for a mask. Dominick stared at him for a couple seconds.

“There’s still people coming in like that … They don’t wear masks,” Dominick said. “You’re worried, you worry for your employees … (We’re) trying to be as safe as possible.”

(From left) Regina, Dominick and Rosina Lombardi saw an increase of customers during the COVID-19 pandemic when more people needed to cook at home. Emily Steinberger | Photo Editor

Close by, on E. Division Street, is Di Lauro’s Bakery and Pizza. There has been an increase in business inside the shop because customers feel safe coming in, said Paul Waverchak, the shop’s owner and president.

His business has made sure to comply with COVID-19 regulations. There’s a protection barrier between customer and employees, and Di Lauro’s only allows two people in the store at once, he said.

Di Lauro’s was open, even in March. Waverchak made sure to get the word out by leaving a pre-recorded voicemail on the bakery’s answering machine saying Di Lauro’s was open, and the shop also kept up a presence on its website and Facebook.

“My product is a ‘You buy it today, you eat it today’ kind of product … It’s basically a staple, Italian rolls; it’s not like you’re buying caviar,” Waverchak said. “We had to be a little bit precautious about what we were making, so it was not to waste.”

One of the most profound impacts of the pandemic for Waverchak’s business has been the loss in their wholesale business. With two of his biggest clients, Syracuse University and restaurants, gone for a period during the pandemic, Waverchak’s business lost that revenue source.

But still, the business has been around for 112 years, and Waverchak believes it isn’t going anywhere.

“In all of the years this business has been here, through the depression, through different situations that have occurred, this bakery has survived a rough course,” Waverchak said. “We are kind of in the same scenario now.”

Published on September 30, 2020 at 9:46 pm

Contact Christopher: cscargla@syr.edu | @chrisscargs