At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, many New Yorkers would have been loath to enter their local 16 Handles soft-serve shop and touch those handles just to get a cool treat. Freaked-out city dwellers opted for Häagen-Dazs in the comfort of their germ-free homes, far away from other humans.
That didn't stop 16 Handles from opening not one, but two, new locations in New York during the pandemic— including one in Times Square, which became a shadow of its bustling former self during the pandemic's peak.
"We're going long on New York City," 16 Handles CEO Solomon Choi told Yahoo Finance's Seana Smith on Thursday, the day that the Big Apple officially re-opened.
Speaking to Yahoo Finance, Choi said his soft-serve chain likely never would have set up shop in Times Square if it hadn't been for the coronavirus pandemic, which caused retail real estate prices to plummet and turned the heart of New York City into a ghost town for months.
"Well, you know, I think in looking at the favorable real estate terms that we were able to get for a location here, that happened as a result of just the streets being empty. And so just, again, going long on New York City, long on the brand, we may have not had that type of an opportunity otherwise," said Choi, whose company has stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Florida.
16 Handles — known for fro-yo flavors like birthday cake and other soft-serve options — is not the only retailer to benefit from COVD-19's effect on New York City real estate. In May, the Wall Street Journal reported that the drop in commercial rents had created a "quirky business boom" — making way for a restaurant that sells vinyl records, a vegan deli, and a shop that serves dumplings from an automat.
For his part, Choi founded 16 Handles during another rough time for New York City and the rest of the country — 2008, during the Great Recession. He saw a recovery then, and he's seeing one now. "So throughout the city, I mean, week over week, we're definitely seeing a lot more traffic," he said. "Certainly, the tourists are starting to come back."
Erin Fuchs is deputy managing editor at Yahoo Finance.
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