Covid-19 has hurt many small businesses. For some entrepreneurs, it has opened doors.

But some businesses’ struggles provide opportunities for new businesses. Landlords who reluctantly do not allow vacancies are offering more affordable leases, and increased tensions over the past year have led to greater demand for services such as facials and guided meditation, business owners said. Some entrepreneurs, who laid themselves off at the beginning of the pandemic, decided to pursue dreams of owning their own businesses.

These are the stories of five new businesses – one in each city – that opened during the pandemic:

A Spa in Brooklyn

Sisters and registered nurses Carla Nelson (36) and Wendy Jules (39) opened the doors to Fleur De Lis Beauty & Esthetics in Flatbush Avenue in July last year. The spa, which offers services such as chemical peels, IV hydration, facials and Botox, was quickly flooded with customers. They have now been booked until June.

Me. Nelson and her sister acknowledge their rapid success with strong support from the Midwood community and social media marketing. They also opened a few months after the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police and said customers are eager to support black-owned businesses.

Yet they struggled to gain access to capital when they started, and now that they want to expand. The big banks turned them down, and the only loan they could get was $ 3,000 from a black-owned local bank. The sisters invested their life savings in the business and turned to friends and family, including Mrs. Nelson’s husband, who emptied his 401 (k).

“We have the skills, we just do not have the funding,” she said. Nelson said. “This is our number 1 challenge and our only challenge.”

A Barbershop in Queens

José Campos, 39, was fired from a store in Manhattan at the start of the pandemic. For several months, he cooked and sold traditional Salvadoran food from his apartment. It was a skill he learned as a child when he accompanied his mother on her rounds to sell tamales from a grocery store in the streets of Maryland, where the family lived after they emigrated from El Salvador.

Mr. Campos has long wanted to own his own company and decided to do business with his barber. The partners quickly found an affordable place in Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside and opened Bibi & JD’s Barbershop.

Six months later, the business pays its bills but makes no profit. It’s a big challenge to attract customers, Campos said.

“There’s still a lot of fear in Covid’s community,” he said.

Mr. Campos, who is receiving his barber license, recently sold part of his stake to his partner and opened a small clothing store in the barbershop, which he hopes will generate more revenue. He is renting for his apartment and said the stress caused him to lose sleep and weight.

He is thinking of selling food from his apartment to earn extra income. His mother, who feels he needs support, flies away from her home in Houston a month ago and is ready to start making large quantities of tamales.

A Thai restaurant in Manhattan

Sommy Putthida, 35, moved to New York City last spring to live with the family after being fired from her job at a tech company in San Francisco. Her cousin took her to the Pro Thai restaurant in Lexington Avenue, and she learned through a local Thai Facebook group that the owners wanted to sell.

“I saw it as an opportunity,” she said.

She bought the business for $ 100,000 using her savings and money she borrowed from her family. It reopened at the end of May under the new ownership, and me. Putthida focused on digital marketing and improving Pro Thai’s online ordering platform. She has built outdoor seating with the help of a New York City Economic Development Corp program that works with partners to provide pro-bono design services to small businesses.

She managed to keep all the employees of the previous owner’s East Harlem restaurant on the payroll, but they do not all work full time. She has not paid the rent for four months, and it is possible she will have to take out a loan to keep the business going, she said.

Business Services in the Bronx

Alicia Corso, 36, earned her accounting degree for four years while working as a tax associate at a tax preparation firm and as an office manager at a personal injury law firm. She realizes that in working class communities, especially where many people speak English as a second language, there is a need for ad hoc businesses and tax services.

“Not everyone can afford to have an accountant,” she said. Corso said.

She saw a real estate opportunity when she learned the owner of her daughter’s hair salon in Morris Park was going to be out of order. The landlord did not want the space to remain empty, and me. Corso and her three partners were able to get a good rental price.

In January, me. Corso AYAM Multiservices opened on White Plains Road. The business provides services such as tax preparation, notarization and translation. Corso is fluent in Spanish and her partners speak Arabic. Her biggest focus is getting customers out the door.

“Little by little it’s starting to increase, ‘she said.

A Wellness Center in Staten Island

Cheryl Lafer, 40, was thinking of opening a holistic wellness center in 2019 and even designed the logo, but only with the pandemic did she see how many people are suffering from stress and anxiety, that she decided to pull the trigger . She found a basement space on Lamberts Lane in the Mid-Island area and opened Heal & Prosper Holistic Wellness NYC last year.

The services of the company include reiki, guided meditation, yoga, sound baths and wellness coaching. The business is profitable, and me. Lafer is looking for a larger space and plans to add services, including facials and halotherapy. This is a salt room that according to me.

“We have growing pains,” she said.

She attributes her success in part to social media marketing and a strong demand for nurturing after a difficult year.

“The reason our customers come in is stress,” Lafer said. “We offer help with healing, self-care and self-love, and that’s what people currently need.”

Write to Kate King by [email protected]