Note from the editor: these lovely students were part of the Community Immersion Club during Session 1 and kindly submitted this blog to share their experience. Enjoy!
On Wednesday, July 14th, EXPLO’s Community Immersion Club visited Bronxville to interview small local businesses on their experiences during COVID-19. One of the interview groups from the club consisted of members Anya Geist, Caroline Snell, and Mira Haber. The trio visited Cookies N’ Cream, a local ice cream and cookie shop, and Womrath Bookshop, a decades-old local bookstore.
At Cookies N’ Cream, Caroline, Mira, and Anya talked to employee Kelsey, who was standing behind the counter to fill customers’ orders and was happy to answer the group’s questions. Cookies N’ Cream has been in business for about a year, having opened in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This provided many challenges for the store, between having to manage the changing mask mandates and conducting much of their business without face-to-face contact. In fact, Kelsey said that many orders are placed through food delivery services such as GrubHub and Doordash. However, even with all of these changes from normal operations, there is something special about working at a small business. The owner of Cookies N’ Cream is around the store most of the time, and the painting on the wall above the tables inside features his children. And with COVID restrictions relaxing, Cookies N’ Cream has a line out the door at night, helping to create an experience integral to Bronxville.
Next, Mira, Anya, and Caroline walked down the street to talk to one of the owners of Womrath Bookshop, a store that opened in Bronxville in 1938. Similar to Cookies N’ Cream, the bookshop has experienced difficulties with COVID restrictions and was forced to adapt by delivering books to customer’s homes rather than opening their storefront. But even with these changes, the people of Bronxville supported the store, and when restrictions were lifted, Womrath was able to return to business as usual. Although the bookstore has been operating for 83 years, the current owners bought it only a year and a half ago. Due to COVID-19, they feel they have not had the chance to build their own community around the store quite yet. However, they are now looking forward to hosting in-person events that will bring the people of Bronxville together.
The opportunity to visit and interview employees of the businesses so close to the Sarah Lawrence campus was extremely valuable; the Community Immersion Club learned how to ask direct questions and listen to thoughtful answers, in addition to learning the value of small businesses. The owner of Womrath Bookstore said it best: Small business “makes a community. Otherwise, this place would be all empty storefronts, and people would just have their beautiful houses, but nowhere to go...you may think that it’s not necessary, and maybe you can get things cheaper at Amazon, but then you don’t get to see people.”
While COVID-19 has certainly impacted these businesses, they have bounced back and continue to add their unique touch to Bronxville.