Shop owners reveal financial and emotional struggles of being looted

After this week’s looting and ransacking in Manhattan and The Bronx, Lucy Hosley went viral. The 69-year-old co-owner of the Valentine Deli was seen on a video posted to YouTube, imploring: “They tell me ‘Black Lives Matter.’ They’re lying . . . I’m black, look what you did to my store.”

Hosley told The Post’s Jane Ridley that she witnessed “around 30 young men and women overturning the shelves and causing chaos . . . They had bought cutting tools to break open the ATM and the cash register. At first I felt anger toward the looters. But I can’t let hate consume me. Many of them have been brought up in a society which believes they are worth nothing and they are acting on that. We will rebuild this store and it will serve this community again.” A GoFundMe for her store had, by Friday, raised more than $114,600.

Inspired by her, other vandalized shop owners spoke out.

‘By looting my store, you’re sending a message that I don’t deserve what I have. But I’m a minority, too’

Oscar Izaguirre, 25, owns Oscar’s Gold & Diamonds on Grand Concourse in the Fordham section of The Bronx. He watched as his store was ransacked during Monday’s violence.

My parents moved from Peru to live the American dream, and opened a pawn shop in 1986 to put me and my three siblings through college. I took it over and rebranded it as a jewelry store five years ago. My father was a trained jewelry repairman who taught me the business when I was a kid. I’ve been helping out since I was 8 — the store has been my whole life.

The quarantine hit me hard. I closed completely for almost two months. We were just getting back up on our feet with online sales.

Early Monday I got concerned calls from friends about rioters descending on our little stretch: “They’re going to The Bronx, so get your s–t out now.” I was terrified. There’s millions of dollars of merchandise. Along with 15 or so friends, I moved everything to a safe location.

I was at home that night when, around 8:30, I watched on my security camera as a group of men wielding sledgehammers lifted the gate off its track, popped the lock and got into the store. By the time I got there, there were gunshots and fires on the street. Some people had weapons: crowbars, bricks. I was afraid they’d burn up my store, but I stood 20 feet away and said nothing. I was afraid for my life. For several hours, I watched looters go into my store and break the cameras, bash the glass cases, destroy the wiring, even knock out the ceiling tiles. Every store around me got trashed, and I did not hear one rant for justice or for ­George Floyd. Not in The Bronx, not that night. That night, they targeted minorities. They were opportunists who just wanted to steal.

By looting my store, you’re sending a message that I don’t deserve what I have. But I’m a minority, too. My family and I have worked our whole lives for this.

— As told to Doree Lewak

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‘Locals told me they called 911 about my shop, but no one responded’

Mario Badali, 30, owner of Village Square Pizza in the East Village, came to work Tuesday to find his shop’s front door shattered and the soda case raided.

I saw a lot of activity going on in Soho and the Midtown, Times Square area on the weekend, but the East Village was pretty quiet the first two nights after the protests. So I wasn’t really expecting anything.

But I took precautions. I have iPads that are hanging up here and we started to hide them at night.

Still, never in a million years did I think this was going to happen.

I feel violated. People in the neighborhood consider me a friend.

Locals told me they tried calling 911 but no one was responding.

We’ve been doing delivery and takeout during the pandemic, but business was taking a hit and this ain’t doing any better to us.

My front door is a custom glass door. ­Replacing that is going to run me an easy $10,000. The stolen sodas cost another $200.

I support the cause. What happened to ­George Floyd is 1,000 percent wrong. But I don’t agree with vandalizing businesses.

Since the attack, we’ve been boarding the shop up and closing early for the curfew. But we’re staying open in the day. I’m not going to let nobody stop me.

— As told to Marisa Dellatto

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‘I don’t know if we can survive’

Abdul Shamim, an immigrant from Bangladesh, arrived at his SK Global Trading Monday to find the front of his Nomad shop damaged. Now the 56-year-old from Queens may call it quits.

All the stores in the area, ­everything is broken. My window, they just hit. They could not break it. But we had to spend a lot of money to make sure it would be safe — $2,700 for locks. I’ve had this business over 10 years, but now we are in a panic situation. I don’t know if we can survive. We are a wholesaler, all of the customers are from overseas. There are no flights. People are not coming. How am I going to pay rent?

— As told to Melissa Klein

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‘Whatever was too damaged to sell, we donated’

On Monday, Rachel Krupa, owner of The Goods Mart on Lafayette Street, found her convenience store vandalized. Then the 40-year-old saw Soho’s community strength.

I sobbed as I saw window after window on Lafayette broken, including my own. The door was damaged and the display shelf knocked over. Whoever did this took snack bars, candy, beverages. But my neighbors came to help. Someone cleaned up glass from the street, another person put up plywood. Artists painted a mural on the plywood. Two little girls who are regulars came in with a “We love The Goods Mart” sign. Whatever products were too damaged to sell, I donated to a shelter in Brooklyn. I am lucky. I have insurance. While we don’t have as much product, we reopened. But we need to remember why this happened, and ask how to change our society.

— As told to Kirsten Fleming