Black Market Emerges as Vendors Hawk Batteries, Candles, Outlets (Free Market Disaster Relief)
Hurricane Sandy: Chinatown Black Market Emerges as Vendors Hawk Batteries, Candles, Outlets
Less than 48 hours after Hurricane Sandy wiped out all power in lower Manhattan, batteries, candles and flashlights have become as valuable to gold to some on the city’s south end.
In the lower Manhattan neighborhoods of Chinatown and Two Bridges on Wednesday morning, residents lined up outside of bodegas and makeshift street stands to buy batteries, flashlights and candles. Prices were far above normal: DD batteries were $2.50 each; small flashlights were $10; candles were upwards of $4. Charging a phone from a sidewalk extension cord cost between $3 and $5.
“They’re trying to make a profit at the expense of the disaster,” said Thomas Liew, who was biking down Catherine Street near the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge on Wednesday. “People in this neighborhood didn’t take the storm seriously and were unprepared. Now they’re paying for it.”
Success Trading, a dollar store on Catherine Street, had set up a table in the front of its pitch-black store to sell batteries and candles. A sales clerk, who was too busy to comment, handed out DD batteries (four for $10) as a crowd of around 20 people attempted to push through the store’s partially opened grate. Many of the shoppers waved dollar bills in the air.
“Usually these batteries cost 75 cents each,” said Yon Lai, an orthodontist who was waiting in line at Success Trading. Lai, who lives on Long Island and runs an office near Success Trading, drove into Manhattan to bring water and supplies to his daughter, a freshman at NYU whose dorm lost power. Lai said he tried to find batteries at three other shops before coming to Catherine Street. “Someone’s distress is another one’s opportunity,” he said with a shrug.
New York law prohibits price gouging of essential products like batteries and water, New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman reminded vendors in an open letter the day before the storm. But on Wednesday morning, most of those out shopping in Chinatown and Two Bridges seemed happy that supplies were available, rather than upset about higher prices.