Local favorite Mamajuana Café, located at 247 Dyckman St., was the Business Resource and Investment Services Center’s first loan recipient in Inwood, according to an Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone’s 2008 annual fiscal year report.

When Bob Tortorello, 63, opened his butcher shop in Inwood in the early 1970s, things were different. “When I started up my business here, Dyckman Street was one of the busiest shopping districts in New York,” he said. “There were nine butcher shops in a four-block radius and we all made money.”

Since then, Tortorello has not only seen the neighborhood change from an area laced with several bakeries and delicatessens, he has also lived through a few recessions in American history. Today, at his Broadyke Meat Market & Deli, Tortorello notices the impact of the current economy on what his customers buy: “lesser cuts of meat” and “a lot more prepared foods.”

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke recently described the U.S. economy to Congress as “unusually uncertain,” and one in which small businesses “have been particularly hard hit.” There are 1,011 businesses in Inwood, of which approximately 916 are small, according to ReferenceUSA, an Internet-based business and consumer research site. And while tenuous times have forced businesses across the country to wrestle with declining consumer confidence and sagging sales, Inwood business owners feel an even greater pinch with limited access to capital, commercial property increases, and resident income levels that hover around $30,000 per year.

Dennis C. Reeder, executive director of the Washington Heights and Inwood Development Corporation, said the high cost of commercial rent is a major issue affecting businesses. The business assistance provided by the agency extends to Harlem, East Harlem and the western Bronx, with Washington Heights and Inwood receiving most of its lending, said Reeder in an e-mail. In a spring 2010 Retail Report by the Real Estate Board of New York, retail rents climbed the highest in Upper Manhattan, up 16 percent to $60 per square foot compared to spring 2009. Reeder said with rents out of reach and landlords more willing to sit on property, entrepreneurs are looking to open businesses in other areas, and moving out he said affects the community.

Besen Retail represents a few empty storefronts on Broadway, which its senior retail specialist, Elliott J. Dweck, said have been vacant for about two years. One was a large space that Dweck eventually suggested the landlord divide into separate stores. “Smaller rents, smaller deals, less complicated.” He said the average asking price for rent is $50 to $60 per square foot.

Rosslinett Alten, 28, co-owner and general manager of the newly opened Hashi restaurant on Broadway, said landlords are feeding off a notion of gentrification, and “charging way more.” Luckily, she and her business partner found something affordable. “We want to bring something different and help the neighborhood change,” she said. But there are concerns in operating in an area where “you don’t have regulars” and budgets are limited said Alten, so they are trying to keep their prices reasonable.

For any small business, being able to endure those initial years is tough. Seven in 10 new businesses will “survive at least two years, and about half survive five years,” according to SCORE, a U.S. Small Business Administration partner that offers free advice to entrepreneurs.

Ramon Suarez, 27, has been in business for three years. He said he moved Montero Furniture from Sherman Avenue to Broadway because he thought the foot traffic would be better. “Right now it’s bad everywhere,” he said, and marked this year as his toughest financially. Suarez engages in various marketing campaigns and even tried advertising on television, but said the cost to new customer ratio did not make it worthwhile in the end.

The consumer confidence index declined to 50.4 in July from 54.3 in June, according to the Conference Board. Robert S. Levin, editor-in-chief and publisher of The New York Enterprise Report, said a recent survey of his readers found that declining sales was their top concern. “Ever since this recession in particular, the world has changed fundamentally, and it’s probably changed to some degree, permanently. People are buying things differently, people are doing business differently.” The biggest advantage of being a small business said Levin, is the ability to quickly implement change and figuring out what to change, is essential for businesses “to thrive in this new normal.” For some, it may be adjusting prices “to go after a different part of the market” he said, or, introducing new products and services.

Small-business owner Jason Devereaux, 27, has done just that. At his “lifestyle boutique” Nostylgia, which sells its own private label of clothing, he recently added a tea bar and chess lounge. His store is located on one of the prime Dyckman Street blocks where upscale options in shopping and dining prevail. Inwood resident Brett Shablak, 37, popped in one afternoon to see Devereaux and have tea. For businesses to succeed here, Shablak said, it’s a matter of “hitting both sides of the road;” catering to those on public assistance, and those with larger incomes, “because you have both.”

JC Revolution, located on Sherman Avenue, sells luxury brands of men’s apparel in an area that defies the retail trend of lower priced merchandise. Owner Miguel Alvarez, 40, said 60 to 65 percent of his customers come from places like the Bronx, New Jersey and Connecticut, so his competitors tend to be department stores where deep discounts are aplenty. “We cannot offer those kinds of deals. We can’t afford it.” So he is cutting expenses and focusing on providing the best customer service.

In a neighborhood that is predominantly Hispanic, access to capital presents another challenge. “Capital access remains the most important factor limiting the establishment, expansion and growth of minority-owned businesses,” with the current economy making it even worse, according to a January 2010 report by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency. Through the U.S. Census Bureau, the report also found that “liquidity constraints” and a lack of wealth, less than $7,950 for 50 percent of Hispanic families, make it difficult to post collateral for loans.

Bank of America has pledged to increase lending by $5 billion in 2010 to small and medium-sized businesses. In addition, T.J. Crawford, vice president of media relations, said in an e-mail that the company just announced a program to support Community Development Financial Institutions, which provide loans and assistance in underserved areas, and other nonprofit lenders. The program will give grants to create “loan loss reserves” in order to free up about $100 million in capital for small businesses. But how this will trickle down to neighborhoods and who exactly will reap the benefit are indeterminate.

The use of “prestamistas,” or loan sharks, is prevalent in the community, where Reeder pegged weekly interest rates between 4 and 10 percent. Knowing how to run a business is another hurdle for business owners, many of whom are immigrants and ill-prepared to operate in a city where there are more rules, regulations and taxes, said Reeder.

“I think that the lack of experience is the biggest downfall for small businesses today,” said Tortorello. In all neighborhoods he said, business owners do not recognize hidden costs and expenses, like the potential rise in the cost of their products or the possible repairs when something breaks down.

A lack of business savvy makes the local programs and workshops designed to aid entrepreneurs all the more vital. Resources that some business owners like Suarez said they never knew existed.

Carmen Diaz-Santiago is the executive director of the Audubon Partnership for Economic Development, a nonprofit that offers a range of assistance, including preparation of business plans and loan packages. Diaz-Santiago said getting the word out about its services is difficult because many people here do not use the Internet. And while her agency’s central location makes it easy for staff members to go to businesses to present a welcome package, the owners tend to be unreceptive or skeptical.

“They can’t believe services are for free,” said Diaz-Santiago. In the agency’s partnership with Yeshiva University, business students can assist local entrepreneurs in areas like accounting or marketing, but she said, only about five businesses have actually utilized the program, as some were reluctant to open up to an outsider.

One effort that is having greater outreach success in promoting the agency’s services is its newly formed Inwood Merchants’ Association. Accompanied by a merchant, staff members visit other merchants and invite them to join. “So this way it’s peer to peer,” said Diaz-Santiago, and not just a third party coming in to offer help.

Through the Inwood Merchants’ Association, Diaz-Santiago said they are encouraging “cooperative” initiatives for business owners; marketing, buying “and having events that are done cooperatively that would bring clients to their stores.”

Devereaux, a member of the association, said its aim will be to not only promote the neighborhood to residents, but to outsiders as well. A neighborhood he thinks has the potential to eventually mirror Williamsburg, or SoHo.

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