Sep 16, 2008 9:00 pm US/Eastern
Upscale Wall Street Restaurants Burnt By Crisis
Bottles Of Wine, Steaks For Lunch Turning Into Burgers And Soda
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Wall Street job losses mean less money will be spent in the financial district, leaving small business owners worried about their own financial security now too.
Gregg Geller/CBS
Wall Street job losses mean less money will be spent in the financial district, leaving small business owners worried about their own financial security now too.
At Delmonico's, a Wall Street power lunch hotspot, the effects of the market meltdown on the lunchtime crowd can easily be seen.
No more $800 dollar bottles of wine are being ordered with lunch these days, according to Corrado Goglia, general manager of the restaurant, which has been a fixture in lower Manhattan since 1837. Also less frequently ordered following the demise of so many financial powerhouses are its $42 steaks.
Instead, many are tightening their belts and opting for hamburgers instead.
"People are very cautious. We see less drinks, cutbacks on lunch, less in the main dining room where big money is spent," says Goglia.
But it's not just the restaurants. Other businesses, large and small are threatened now that up to 40,000 jobs in the financial services may be lost. The rule of thumb: for every job lost on wall street, two or three others may go as well.
Bob Dolan's been running a newsstand at Wall and Broad streets for 20 years and he's worried:
"People lose their jobs and I make less money," he admits.
So will he stay in business? "Time will tell," he says.
Minos Polychronakis has been repairing the shoes for the last 30 years, 25 of them at the World Trade Center. He says he is prepared for anything. "I survived after 9/11 and I will survive again. I am surviving," he says.
And at the tony Equinox Fitness club where Wall Street types tone their bodies attendance may actually be on the upswing.
"People are going to have a lot of time on their hands so this would be a good place for them to spend it," says Equinox member Doug Friedman.
How long will this Wall Street crisis affect other businesses down here? The general manager of Delmonico's says probably for a year, at the least.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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