For three long months most of the businesses in the capital city’s small, but busy downtown shopping district were dormant. Non-essential businesses were shuttered to the public under Governor Gina Raimondo’s efforts to quell the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the state.
Now, as the state enters “phase two” of the reopening, business owners are looking forward to seeing their customers again, and trying to get in-person sales back up and running.
But the small businesses in downtown Providence were in the path of vandals following a Monday night protest that left windows smashed, inventory stolen, and shopkeepers shaken.
“It is devastating to see our friends and neighbors’ businesses just being wrecked, and their merchandise flung all over their shops and out into the streets,” said Anne-Mare Keohane, owner of Symposium Books on Westminster St.
Though her shop was not targeted Monday, she said she just can’t bring herself to reopen as she’d planned to earlier in the week.
“We just can’t,” Keohane said. “We’re going to pretty much play it by ear. Let’s just say if we’re not open in a week, I’m going to be getting worried.”
Like many small business owners, the three-month break has put a serious financial strain on Keohane. Though she said the store did a brisk business online in the first days of the pandemic, it waned as the closure wore on. Keohane’s landlord has been lenient with rent, but she added that bookstores are rarely a wealth-making enterprise.
At least two other stores on the strip have also had to delay reopening
Across the street from Symposium, Civil, a skateboard shop, was hard hit. Looters smashed the large storefront windows, and stole between 60-70 percent of the merchandise, including clothes, shoes and skateboard decks, according to owner Guido Silvestri.
“By the time we figure out insurance and get more product in here, I would say it’s going to be about two weeks, would be my guess,” said Silvestri, the owner of the shop which has been open on the street since 2012.
“There’s a lot of other protests and things going on; we want to stay safe for the rest of this week,” said Silvestri. “Let’s just chill and come back out when it’s right.”
It’s another financial setback for Silvestri though he has been able to sell items online, and keep his two employees on payroll.
Further down the street, Craftland, a store that sells locally made art, clothes and decor will also remain closed.
“We were going to open, but now we just aren’t sure,” said store manager Darrien Segal. After Monday’s events Segal says she and the owner are “taking a step back and regrouping,” though Craftland was untouched during the looting.
“The street just looks really sad,” Segal said.
By Wednesday, the streets of downtown were largely clean, and after months of shutdowns, many have gotten used to the quiet. However, the plywood boards blocking windows and storefronts on almost every street are new and disconcerting.
“Everybody’s a little more aware downtown, whether it’s fear or anxiety,” said Tim Hamlin, who works for the Providence Downtown Improvement District, a nonprofit that promotes the area. “Everyone was locked away and then people protested.”
On Tuesday, scores of volunteers arrived on the scene mostly alone and unprompted to help sweep and clean. Store owners arrived to assess the wreckage and provide information to authorities.
Rhode Island Secretary of Commerce Stefan Pryor toured downtown Tuesday, and says it’s still too early to estimate the cost of the damage. Pryor spent the morning speaking with store owners, and explaining several small business loan programs that may be available to the affected shops.
Two days after the violence, shopkeepers remained upset and bewildered. The looting spree stemmed from a protest linked to the nationwide demonstrations in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black Minnesota resident, who died after a police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. Many of the storefronts in downtown Providence are adorned with signs supporting community solidarity and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“People want to be heard and I understand that, but what happened here isn’t about that,” said Karen Beebe, whose clothing store Modern Love was vandalized and looted Monday. “The focus should really still be on Black Lives Matter, and that there was a man killed.”
Beebe has reopened her store to the public and decided to keep it open despite the damage.
“We’re persevering through this,” said Beebe. “I think it’s really important that we’re all here for one another, and that we get through this.
Inside skateboard shop Civil, the shelves were empty, the clothing racks moved to the sides, and a small group of local skaters was helping inventory the remaining items. Outside, where the glass storefront was smashed, a local artist painted a mural of small figures raising a large raised fist; a small act of solidarity said owner Guido Silvestri.
“A community is a revolving door; there’s things that help move the door around,” said Silvestri. “[Civil] is a link in the chain that makes things go around.”
“We have a place that we can use as more than just a voice for the skate community. If we can help the current situation for a better tomorrow we should be doing that.”
Editor’s note: a previous version misspelled Stefan Pryor. The story has been changed to reflect that.
