A pair of longtime small businesses on Staten Island say they’re being forced out to make way for a cannabis dispensary, to the anger of the local community.
S&T Bagels & Deli and the Card & Gift Shop have been neighbors on a Forest Avenue strip mall in West Brighton for over 20 years, both without a lease for roughly five years.
But their owners were shocked in January when a landlord informed them they had to be out by March 31.
“We did not see this coming,” said Shamin Frammosa, 54, the “S” in S&T Bagels at 463 Forest Ave. (her husband, Tom, is the “T”). She said the landlord told her over the phone last month they planned to open a dispensary on the site.
Shamin Frammosa runs S&T Bagels & Deli. (Téa Kvetenadze / New York Daily News)
Frammosa described working at the store seven days a week since 2001, watching customers’ children going off to college. She said regulars have come by in tears after hearing about the store’s imminent closure on social media.
“It’s hard,” a heartbroken Frammosa told the Daily News. “It’s not just losing a store, but it’s losing your neighborhood.”
Dimesh “Danny” Patel,