Struggles depend on direction
Business owner on South Pearl Street says, “This place should be just like uptown”
For one North Pearl Street business owner, the lack of customer parking is his big problem. But ask the guy who’s running a takeout place just half a mile away on South Pearl Street about his business concerns and worries about parking seem almost quaint.
All businesses have their challenges, and that is true for those on both North and South Pearl streets. But their daily realities are drastically different depending on where along the thoroughfare they’re located.
Maiwand Khan said he often contemplates if the money is worth it to operate his family’s business given all they tolerate.
The cashier at Pearl Fried Chicken, at 125 S. Pearl St. often looks across the street at the abandoned McDonald’s and says he knows exactly why that business decided to shut its door.
On any day, Khan said there’s a group of homeless people and people with drug addiction problems that hang out in front of his shop, sometimes entering in agitated states making threats.
“(There are) people telling you to come outside, (saying) I’ll beat you up, I’ll shoot you in the face,” he said, recalling several incidents where he either called police for help or was on the verge of doing so.
Khan said it’s not uncommon to have multiple unpleasant encounters in a day.
“Working here gets so f—-ing stressful sometimes. How long can you take someone’s s—-? At some point you’re going to blow up,” Khan said.
The restaurant decided against installing tables and seats inside to keep people from staying there longer than necessary to place and pick up orders. It was a strategy to avoid or reduce as many confrontations as possible.
Khan said he has tried to let police officers know they are welcome in the restaurant in hopes their badges and blue uniforms will keep their quarrelsome visitors in check. Yet, Khan finds himself disappointed when city police drive by, see the loitering outside and don’t do anything about it.
“They drive by here (and) pretend like nothing was going on,” he said.
City police have said officers patrol the area to address such issues and criminal behavior in the neighborhood regularly. Police Chief Eric Hawkins also told the Times Union in an emailed statement the department is working with community organizations to try and provide those struggling with mental health resources they need.
On North Pearl Street, the scene from a business owner’s perspective is much different.
B. Lodge & Co. owners Mark Yonally and his father, Jack, who operate “Albany’s oldest department store,” find themselves surrounded by easygoing customers whose chief complaint is that
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it’s hard to find on-street parking.
Lodge’s has been open on North Pearl since 1867. Jack and Elaine Yonally bought the store in 1995 and passed it down to the next generation in 2011. Customers have voiced their displeasure about the difficulty of finding parking spots when they visit but they still manage to make their way to the store at 75 N. Pearl St.
Mark Yonally also said that it became abundantly clear during the pandemic how much of Lodge’s business, and that of others on North Pearl Street, is dependent on state employees and other office workers patronizing the area.
While he said state employee sightings were scarce over the winter, Yonally believes the tail end of the drought is near as workers continue to trickle back to their downtown offices.
Marcelo del Puerto, a state employee who works in the area, agreed. He said state workers are the lifeblood of North Pearl Street because they work in buildings nearby, eat lunch and run errands there.
He rarely finds himself frequenting South Pearl Street because it’s farther from his office and the “element changes” in the neighborhood the farther south of State Street you travel along Pearl Street.
“It’s just a little bit depressing over (at) that location,” he said.
But not even North Pearl Street can escape unwelcome activity as evidenced by a recent vandalism spree during which several cars’ tires were punctured and the Steuben Street Market’s storefront window shattered.
Chris Pratt, owner of the Steuben Street Market, a food purveyor at 54 N. Pearl St., boiled it down to an “identity crisis” that is affecting the entire length of Pearl Street.
“There’s nowhere to park. Every city has that problem. But yet, for some reason, people really don’t feel like they can come here,” he said.
“I don’t know if anybody really has this silver bullet that’s really going to make it turn around. And I don’t think it’s for a lack of effort,” he added.
Whether the challenges they face are metaphysical or more mundane in nature, those who have chosen to operate businesses on Pearl Street have been drawn to or stay there because they see the potential for success.
Frustrations aside, Khan said there’s much good to see in South Pearl Street, particularly in the neighborhood regulars that swing by.
Still, he finds himself thinking that if the restaurant were located on North Pearl Street, it would be a little easier for his family. They would be able to serve more of a corporate clientele or worry less and get more attention from city officials, too.
Khan hopes one day South Pearl Street will mirror its northern counterpart.
“It is messed up,” he said. “This place should be just like uptown (North Pearl Street).”
About this series
This is one in a series of stories exploring Pearl Street’s glory days as a commercial district, the forces that devastated the corridor — especially South Pearl Street — and how the present-day community is trying to nourish it.
On the web: Go to timesunion.com to read more stories in this series and see historic images.
Use the camera on your smartphone to scan the code below to share your questions about Pearl Street’s past, present and future.