Ground Zero Ticket Booth Aids Seaport

By Ronald Drenger

After waiting in line for an hour on the chilly East River pier, Miami tourists Nina Malik and Kristen Lindahl picked up tickets to the Ground Zero viewing platform and headed back to Broadway in search of warmth and a place to kill some time.

"Wait, let’s stop in here," said Malik, guiding her friend into Conway, a clothing store on Fulton Street. "I need a hat. "

Hats, hot coffee, a burger, maybe a pair of shoes. The small purchases of Ground Zero visitors may not seem like much, but they carry the hopes of South Street Seaport merchants, who were hit hard on Sept. 11.

The Ground Zero viewing system, requires visitors to get tickets at the Seaport booth between Piers 16 and 17 for a half-hour slot on the platform. It was designed to reduce crowds on lower Broadway and surrounding streets, and to help businesses in the Seaport area. Quickly, the ticket giveaway—more than 4,000 a day—brought order to the crowds and, to some extent, opened visitors’ wallets.

Paul Harnett, vice president and general manager of Seaport Marketplace, Inc., which manages the mall, said informal reports show some businesses’ revenues up 10 to 15 percent from last January, and many others had gains of about 5 percent.

Shops close to the ticket booth report that business has picked up significantly.

"I’m doing handsomely," said Larry Lynch, whose newsstand and souvenir shop, Seaport News, faces the ticket booth. Lynch said his business was up 50 to 60 percent compared to previous Januarys, which he attributed to the ticket buyers and the unseasonably warm weather.

His shelves were piled with NYPD and NYFD hats and T-shirts, but "other stuff is moving nicely, too," Lynch said, pointing out racks of keychains, shot glasses, mugs, medallions, magnets and miniature Lady Liberties.

Next door, the Cyber Cigar Coffee Bar was doing a brisk business in hot coffee, cookies and pastries.

"Bringing people down here helps," said Jeff Lim, a worker at the store. He said business was up about 25 percent since the ticket booth opened.

But other businesses in the Seaport mall and on Fulton Street say that while many more people are walking around—and stopping to ask where to get Ground Zero tickets—sales remain slack.

At the T Gallery, a t-shirt store a few doors down, there were no customers. The saleswoman, who declined to give her name, said business was slow.

The ticket booth "helps for the food stores," she said. "People are standing in line, cold and hungry. But for retail, people buy a little but not much."

Along the Fulton Street corridor from the Seaport to Ground Zero, some merchants reported a jump in business. At Foot Mart, a shoe store at 112 Fulton, a few blocks west of the Seaport, sales were up sharply.

"We’ve seen a big difference in the last two weeks, especially on the weekends," said Mark Weng, the manager. Business had been down more than 50 percent in September and October, he said, and November and December were slow, too. Before Sept. 11, he said, the street was full of office workers at lunch time, and people came in to buy shoes. "Now, there are many fewer workers around."

Hilario Romero, manager of Ruben’s Empanadas at 64 Fulton St., said he sees many people passing the store. "Some come in to ask where they can get their tickets. Some get coffee. But they’re not coming and eating. Maybe they don’t know what an empanada is."