South Side business owners struggle to stay afloat after pandemic, looting: ‘I’m in here working on a prayer’

For decades, Tess Porter has styled hair and sold beauty products out of her shop in West Englewood, but in recent days continuing her work has become increasingly difficult.

Porter, 53, has outstanding utility bills from the roughly three months when she couldn’t open her business because of the stay-at-home order in Illinois. Then days before she was set to welcome clients back, her windows were smashed and many of her supplies and products were stolen during the unrest sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.

“I’m in here working on a prayer,” said Porter, who is working inside her boarded up business.

She is among South Side business owners who are struggling to stay afloat after days of unrest damaged their livelihood. Many said the damage has exacerbated the economic troubles they were already facing because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ja’Mal Green, a community activist, and Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives announced Tuesday that about $220,000 in funds were raised so far to give up to $5,000 to black-owned businesses damaged during the civil unrest as soon as this week.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Nathaniel Pendleton, the father of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot to death in 2013, is among those expected to get funds from the initiative. The damage to his South Chicago soul food restaurant, the New Look Restaurant/The Next Level, won’t be completely covered by his insurance. So he plans to use the money to repair his window, floors and replace a stolen television.

“A lot of these communities are becoming deserts, a lot of our black communities, and if we don’t keep our businesses flowing in our own communities, we’ll all move out to the suburbs or something like that,” he said. “We are trying to keep our neighborhoods vitalized, and we want our kids to be able to walk around and say, ‘hey, this is where I grew up’ and be proud of that fact.”

Others like Porter, the owner of Tess’s Place Style Shop at 1605 W. Garfield Blvd., have found it difficult to navigate getting help. She is waiting to see if insurance will cover any of the damage. She still isn’t sure why she never received a federal stimulus check, and the last time she sought a grant she was told she would have to pay money out of pocket.

“The city needs to come out and assess and help (the businesses),” Porter said. “These were very hard hits. We were off for three months, and then to come back to the destroyed businesses, it’s almost impossible.”

Porter had some styling tools in storage that she is now using, but she thinks it will take longer to get back to where she was before the pandemic and the unrest.

“This is all that I’ve ever done,” Porter said, speaking about her business. “I’ve been doing this since high school, and I’m 53 years old.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Other South Side business owners are turning to online fundraising with the help of their tech savvy children to get back on their feet. Sandra Na started an internet campaign for her father, Yong Sup Na, who owns beauty supply stores in Bronzeville and the Near West Side.

As Na started to research her father’s insurance policies, she realized it would only cover a portion of the damage. And even if other forms of aid became available, she was skeptical of how much her father would get considering other businesses, including large chains, were damaged. She took to GoFundMe, a platform her father had not heard about, to share her father’s story to raise money for him. Her father wasn’t sure if his stores would reopen, but in less than a week they’ve raised online more than $77,000.

“He’s taken aback that people he doesn’t even know are offering words of encouragement,” Na said. “... Now he’s saying, maybe I can open again.”

Na, who now lives in New York, said her father, an immigrant from South Korea, had downplayed the damage to the stores to her. When she traveled to Chicago, she learned from a shop employee that her father was confronted by people breaking into the businesses and was forced to turn over the keys to the Near West Side store. So many motorists had swarmed the area that her father wasn’t able to leave, Na said.

“When we saw it firsthand, it was like someone had punched my heart out,” Na said about the damage. “It looked like a tornado.”

Days before the businesses were damaged, her father had spent a significant amount of money restocking the stores in anticipation of finally being able to reopen to customers, Na said.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Georgia Utendahl said her Englewood restaurant, Georgia’s Food Depot at 7352 S. Halsted St., was damaged when someone tried unsuccessfully to steal an ATM machine. Even with broken windows, Utendahl said she’s still taking orders, though Friday she made less than $40. She didn’t board up her windows because she didn’t want the public to think she was closed for good.

“I’m trying so hard to hold on,” Utendahl said. “Hoping that it gets better, but this is really a hard time for me right now.”

Grace Chong also started an online fundraising campaign to help her father, Sung Chong, after his business, Englewood Beauty Supply located at 6535 S. Halsted St., was broken into May 31. Then days later, the Englewood business suffered damage after the building caught on fire, Chong said.

When people started breaking into businesses, her father tried to get to the store but he was too late. He watched from security cameras as people broke in and ransacked the store.

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“He has lost his entire inventory,” Chong said. “There is damage to his fixtures, the computers, cashiers, everything inside, but there’s also fire and water damage. He won’t be able to open any time soon.”

At home, Chong said she and her parents have spent the days talking about how hundreds of years of racism has played into the anger that unfolded on the streets last week. Her father is an immigrant from South Korea.

“I think because of that, there is this sadness that my parents are experiencing,” Chong said. “They are hoping they can rebuild and go back into the community and be supportive of that as well.”

In the Fuller Park area, Dr. Stephanie Johnson-Brown is hopeful she’ll start seeing patients by Thursday at Plano Vision Center, located in a strip mall at 5401 S. Wentworth Ave., that is now lined with boarded up businesses. Johnson-Brown is among those who will receive a grant from the collaboration from Green and the Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives.

About 90% of the frames were stolen from the business, she said. Even before the unrest, Johnson-Brown said she was asked why she didn’t relocate to another part of the city. She often thought about her father, who started the optometry practice in 1959, and the lessons he taught her about the importance of community.

“Those are my people, and therefore, I’m here for them,” she said about the neighborhood. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Elvia Malagón’s reporting on social justice and income inequality is made possible by a grant from the Chicago Community Trust.