But five years ago, when Tirado bought the Butcher's Choice, the store became the center of his life and financial well-being. He was doing so well last year that he invested $70,000 to renovate the floors and display cases, hoping the renovation would increase sales. "When I decided to renovate the store, the economy wasn't doing as bad," Tirado said. "I did it at the wrong time, but it was sort of like a sacrifice."
The store usually makes between $15,000 and $30,000 a week (it does much better in the beginning of the month when most of the customers have received government assistance checks), but the money goes quickly with such expenses as inventory ($8,000 to $20,000 a week), payroll ($10,000 a month) and power ($1,500 to $2,000 a month). Tirado also still pays about $1,900 a month on the loans he used to purchase the store. Trying to save money, Tirado has even changed the way he gets his inventory, making several small purchases throughout the week to respond to fewer customers.
Tirado's girlfriend Ruth Lopez, 32, said she has noticed that Tirado has been working more to compensate for fewer customers and for the employees he has had to let go to save money.
An ice breaker made of paper
Walking down Third Avenue, I learned that a reporter’s notebook can be a great conversation starter. “What are you doing?” a shopkeeper asked. I told him that I was writing down addresses for an interactive map assignment. We got to talking about his African video store, where he also sold clothing. Business was not good. He said he was changing inventory all the time—from T-shirts, to watches, to hats—just trying to get by. I would not have spoken to him if I hadn’t had my notebook out.
A taste of White Castle
If you report in the Hub, you realize that the neighborhood is completely saturated with fast-food joints. Chris and I ate our first-ever White Castle meals on Third Avenue — and the fries did taste great after a morning of reporting. About a week later, we ate at McDonalds. The place was packed with high school kids and families. I realized how much more I would be eating unhealthy food if I lived in the Hub. These folks did not have healthy, cheap, and convenient alternatives close by.
—Michele Hoos
"He's been at his job more now than he used to be," said Lopez, who has been dating Tirado for two years. "For the past few months, he's been working more seven-day weeks." Lopez added that Tirado's work schedule is simply "too much," in her opinion, and she hopes that he will find some more relief soon.
And although he doesn't spend much time at his house on 164th Street near Yankee Stadium, Tirado invests most of his money into that house. He recently renovated an upstairs bedroom that he now rents out for $1,750 a month, and he plans to do the same thing with his basement soon. Tirado spends $2,970 a month in mortgage payments and hundreds of dollars every month in home renovations. Yet his stainless steel stovetop has never been used and the chairs in his freshly minted dining room are still wrapped in plastic.
While Tirado says his dream for the future is to turn the Butcher's Choice into a franchise, his more immediate concern is for the future of the one store he already owns.
"I have faith the economy is going to get better," said Tirado, who hopes that if he keeps working hard things will improve. "The ones who stay in there and pull through it—at the end, [they] will have victory."
