During the Dec. 13 shooting in Barus and Holley, Maya Martinez ’28 and her two friends hid in the bathroom of the Starbucks in Wayland. “The baristas fed us cake pops and protected us” until the police arrived, she said.
Now, Martinez said she’s more committed than ever to supporting College Hill establishments.
“I have faith in the Brown community and I have faith in the Providence community,” Martinez said.
Multiple College Hill business owners and managers — many of which provided free meals and support to the community in the shooting’s wake — told The Herald that in the days and weeks following the shooting, they suffered a significant drop in foot traffic. Now that students are back on campus, business has begun to recuperate, but it has not rebounded to pre-shooting levels.
In the week following the shooting, business at Thayer Street’s In The Pink, an acai and smoothie shop, fell by over 50%, co-owner Chris Cancel wrote in an email to The Herald.
“Employee morale was shaken, (the) Thayer Street community was grieving and the streets were completely deserted,” he wrote in an email to The Herald.
Because of decreased business, In The Pink had to “make major adjustments to labor and costs” after the shooting, Cancel wrote.
Just a few blocks over at Ceremony, a cafe located one block over on Brook Street, the emptiness of Thayer Street resulted in business that was “markedly slower than normal,” Ceremony owner Michelle Cheng wrote in an email to The Herald.
“The days felt quiet and subdued, not just in volume, but emotionally,” Cheng wrote. Ceremony was closed the day after the shooting and reopened on Dec. 15.
“Because people don’t feel safe and at ease dining, shopping or watching movies on Thayer Street, we witnessed a significant decrease in foot traffic,” Kabob and Curry manager Nitesh Malhotra wrote in an email to The Herald.
“Beyond lost customers, some businesses also faced reduced operating hours and lingering uncertainty,” Michaela Antunes, a spokesperson for the City of Providence, wrote in an email to The Herald. She added that “margins are already tight” for some businesses in the winter season.
To stabilize the struggling commercial corridor, the City of Providence, Rhode Island Commerce and Brown provided $45,000 total in recovery grants to the Thayer District Merchant Association.
East Side Pockets owner Paul Boutros wrote that “support like this helps because it encourages foot traffic and restores customer confidence, which is what small businesses rely on.”
Brown students, faculty and staff make up a “meaningful portion” of Ceremony’s customers, Cheng wrote. While the cafe has seen a “return in (the Brown) community’s presence,” Cheng noted, business has “still been uneven compared to previous semesters.”
At In The Pink, business has “still been very, very slow,” and “locals are hesitant to visit the area,” Cancel wrote. But since the University’s spring semester began, sales have begun to rise, he added.
Back on campus, Sophia Popov ’29 told The Herald her visits to businesses on Thayer Street remain unchanged from before the shooting.
“I feel pretty safe on Thayer (Street),” she said. “The only area that I’m wary to go near is east of Barus and Holley.”
