Northvale, small business stays open during Covid 19

April 27, 2020 Steve Henrici Features, Real World 1

By STEVE HENRICI
Petrillos DeliNORTHVALE – During a time of unprecedented pandemic and quarantine, the once highly populated street of Livingston avenue is quieter than ever. Cautious shoppers are only leaving their house for the essentials. Besides the Shoprite located in the town,  most local places are closed or operating on limited basis.Three delis located in an approximate 100 foot radius of one another are open at normal hours.  One of them is combined pizzeria/deli owned by John Petrillo, who has managed to keep his business open.  

“Well,  we assessed the situation and did our own thing,” Petrillo said. “Unless told otherwise we wanted to keep it going. I didn’t want to see anyone on unemployment.”

Petrillo’s is among the many small business in Northvale, a town of roughly has a population of 4,640. It is blue-collar town and is located directly on the border of New York State, approximately 20 minutes from New York City, the Epicenter of the virus.

Covid-19 has brought about an enormous loss of life in the United States. Right now it has cost us a little over 50,000 Americans. New York, has been hit the hardest with 16,000 deaths. America has been impacted in a negative way.   But more than 109,000  Americans in the United States have recovered.

But the economy is taking a hit. New York Magazine reported on April 2nd, 10 million Americans lost their jobs in the past two weeks. “The job losses of the past three weeks imply a real-time unemployment rate of 10.1 percent, matching the highest level of joblessness America experienced during the Great Recession.”

Many small businesses are struggling, and most are operating at a limited level.  According to the Lane Report 87 percent of small business owners say their businesses are hurting from the Coronavirus. And 35 percent of small businesses can only survive for less than three months in current conditions. About 68 percent of small business owners believe the government is not doing enough during this pandemic.

Petrillo  reported about the 40 percent decrease in business since the onset of COVID-19 in March,  but he has kept his deli going with longer hours of operation.

 

John Petrillo, Co-Owner

Petrillo’s is an extremely popular deli, pizzeria for all local residents and has been open since 1991. It has managed to be very successful all while competing with two other deli’s located right around the corner, La Casa Formosa, and Amato Bread.

He usually puts in over 80 hour work weeks, from 6:30-7:30 Monday through Saturday, and 8-4 on Sunday.

His brother handles the social media pages.

When asked about the future  Petrillo said, “We’re just hoping it goes back to where it used to be. We are down 40 percent right now. Although 40percent may seem like a large number, Petrillo strongly believes in his small business. He is extremely confident in his ability to keep the business running.

Full Menu Available, Curbside Pick-up

Petrillo’s maintains their full service menu at this time.They offer anything from breakfast sandwiches, to cold lunch sandwiches, or hot dinner sandwiches.

They are now offering curbside and will bring your food right out to you or to the window in front of the store. Petrillo stressed that washing his hands and stressed wearing gloves is always very important.

Northvale, Norwood Residents Chime In

“Petrillo’s is friendlier than any other business I’ve ever gone to. They allow their customers to run up a tab if they don’t have cash on them,” said Tommy Schneider, a Northvale resident. “I think that it’s really cool so many of us develop a trust factor and John lets us put what is owed on a tab, if someone is short.”

“I love Johnny, he’s always in such a good mood. No matter the time of day. He makes my food and always finds the time to say hello and strike up a conversation, ” said Andrew Carpanini a Northvale Resident.

Carpanini’s entire family raves about how nice of a place it is. About three weeks ago Carpanini lost his grandmother, and  Petrillo personally brought them over a platter of sandwiches.

Not only is a deli but a pizza shop. “It’s the total package, says Tyler Tutino a Norwood Resident. “I love their Chicken Parmigiana and their Philly Cheese Steak. I went there the other day.” These strange times have not stopped Tutino from finding his way into Petrillos during his lunch break.

The customers maintain Petrillo’s optimism.

“I think a lot of regulars still try their best to come in. And I love to see it,” said Petrillo.

Bergen County has without a doubt been been hit the hardest. New Jersey Governor Murphy is updating the numbers everyday.

 

 

 

 

 

1 Comment

  1. Nice story Steve! I really liked your Adobe Spark as it really brought the local business aspect home. It made me feel like this was my local deli! The only thing I would have maybe liked to see if a picture or audio of John Petrillo. Additionally, maybe an update on what Petrillo believes the future of his deli looks like.

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