The commercial strip, which serves a predominantly Black community, was also impacted by a second wave of civil unrest last October.
“One of the things that was amazing to me was that despite all of the challenges that 2020 presented a lot of the business owners were really committed to maintaining their presence of 52nd Street,” said Sadiyah Sabree, 52nd Street commercial corridor manager for The Enterprise Center.
“But of course it was challenging. People lost a lot of their inventory and they said that they even experienced some emotional trauma as a result of that civil unrest.”
Jabari Jones, president of the West Philadelphia Corridor Collaborative, which works to assist area businesses, said some are starting to recover from the dual effects of looting and the pandemic.
“The thing that they are benefiting the most from has not necessarily been relief or funding, although we’re trying to track and connect businesses to those opportunities,” he said.
“For the most part businesses have been benefiting from the reopening guidelines. As the city has reopened and increased the capacity restrictions on certain businesses and people have been feeling more confident in going out to shop because of the vaccination rates increasing throughout the city, they’re been starting to see a rebound in sales numbers.
“There’s definitely been some recovery and there is still some way to go but the good thing is that businesses are starting to generate more revenue and they are starting to come back,” Jones continued.
But while some businesses are rebounding, others still face challenges.
Ife Abubakr’s child care center had only been open for about three months when it was vandalized. Looters broke in through her center’s back door, damaged a computer and stole toys that had just been purchased.
“They basically trashed the place,” recalled Abubakr, who owns the Learning Garden Academy in West Philadelphia.
“I was basically struggling because I didn’t have no money coming in at this point.”
Abubakr opened her day care center last February and had to shut down last March when the pandemic hit. She had recently reopened her center when looters struck. The pandemic had caused some customers to start keeping their children at home, which impacted her revenue stream.
Abubakr ended up relying on grant funding from organizations like the Enterprise Center and the 30 Day Fund to help pay her rent and staff.
“The grants just started coming in and I was able to catch up,” she said. “Basically I was leaning on grants.”
To make ends meet, Abubakr works a second job while continuing to run her business. Even though it’s been extremely challenging, she wants to ensure that she can still pay her small staff and serve her customers.
“It’s like, OK, I’m not making any money myself but I’m able to stay open and I’m able to provide for the children that do come and my staff can still have a life,” Abubakr said.