For Black-Owned Gay Bar in Manhattan, an Uncertain Road Ahead

(Bloomberg) -- (Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of summer vignettes exploring the impact of Covid-19 on the global economy, telling the larger story of a once-in-a-multi-generational crisis through the voices of individuals and small businesses. For more, see  {NI TICTOC BLC } on the Bloomberg terminal or visit @QuickTake on Twitter.)

Each June, millions of tourists clad in rainbow garments flock to New York City to celebrate Pride Month. But this year, the coronavirus pandemic has brought the fanfare to a standstill.

With the cancellation of citywide Pride events, many LGBTQ-owned businesses lost out on sales that typically keep them going for much of the year. That’s on top of months of closures resulting from stay-at-home orders that already wiped out revenues.

For Alibi Lounge, which owner Alexi Minko says is the last remaining Black-owned LGBTQ bar in Manhattan, the last few months have brought significant financial and emotional strain.

The Harlem bar, which has been in operation for about four years, shut down on March 16 along with much of the rest of the city, and the cancellation of Pride only added to a lack of foot traffic.

“Unfortunately, financially it was a disaster,” said Minko, who immigrated to the U.S. from Gabon in 2006. “We had absolutely zero revenues and we had to keep paying for utilities and taxes. When you can’t sell one vodka, how do you manage?”

The pandemic has been especially damaging to minority communities and businesses in the hospitality industry, and Alibi Lounge falls into both categories. Being Black-owned and LGBTQ can be isolating, especially when it comes to getting sound business support, Minko said.

“When you’re in Harlem, uptown, and you’re Black and you’re gay and you’re the only one, how do you build strength? How do you get information that’s going to help you, for instance, get a loan?” Minko said.

The bar owner said he made multiple attempts to apply for a small business loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, but at first was met with technical glitches. On a second attempt funds for the program had run out. About a month ago, he finally got approval for $5,000, barely enough to pay a month of payroll for three employees, he said.

About 40% of LGBTQ workers are in industries with high virus exposure risk, compared with 22% of the non-LGBTQ community, according to a study conducted by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

Black-owned Businesses

At the same time, 41% of Black-owned businesses shuttered between February and April, compared with a 17% drop for White-owned businesses, according to data in a paper distributed by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The percentage of Black business owners in essential industries is also lower than the national average, according to the study by Robert Fairlie, a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

In both cases, this higher concentration of minorities in industries hit hard by the pandemic — such as hospitality and food service — has contributed to inequalities. One bright spot has been recent support for minority businesses as more Americans look to participate in racial justice.

Minko set up a GoFundMe page for Alibi in early June in an attempt to get a small amount of funding to keep the bar afloat. At the time, he wasn’t confident that people would contribute, but within a week he was shocked to find the fund had topped $100,000, with donations coming from thousands of people around the world.

“If you own a Black business and you’re LGBT there’s a big chance you’re going to fail — I hate that word,” Minko said. “For me the ‘F’ word is failure. We show the next generation that if you work hard, if you fight hard, you will create that energy that in dire times will help come support you and give you a lift.”

Still, despite the outpouring of support, Minko says the money from GoFundMe won’t last long because bills have been piling up. He’s hoping that when New York City begins its third phase of reopening on July 6, Alibi will be able to recoup some of its lost revenues, but he’s uncertain about what the future will look like as the virus continues to spread.

“When I see behaviors of New Yorkers I’m worried that sooner or later we get hit again, and then what’s going to happen?” he said. “If we get hit again, I really don’t see how we’re going to survive it.”

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