Goodbye Empire Tailors & Cleaners

After 26 years serving Hell's Kitchen, on January 11, 2018 the Chong family closed the doors and shuttered the gate ​for the last time at Empire Tailors & Cleaners. ​

Empire Tailors & Cleaners Hell's Kitchen New York City ©2018 E.B.Gallardo All Rights Reserved

​​The Chong's didn't want to go. They were forced out  - the landlord tripled the rent.  It's a shame. And it's shameful. Because we didn't just lose an excellent tailor and dry cleaners. We lost family. ​​
​
​The Chong's are Hell's Kitchen family.​ They understand a good neighborhood is a community of people committed to it and to one another. And so they were. 

John and Tanya Chong opened Empire Tailors & Cleaners at 674 9th Avenue in 1992. They raised their two children, Brian and Amanda, in the store. We watched them grow up. We helped with homework. The Chong's accepted delivery packages for us. They kept their eyes on the street. They stored Spider's folding chair so he wouldn't have to lug it for his daily sit on the sidewalk in front of the store - a location he has presided over for decades. The Chong's gave countless generosities. They are good, kind people who ran a good, honest business. 

The closing of Empire Tailors & Cleaners is one more erosion of Hell's Kitchen. An appetite for profit unchecked by humanitarian concerns destroys all in its path. Gentrification attacks local community, displacing long term residents in favor of transients that may have more short-term cash but will not stay long enough to put down roots. No roots, no investment. No investment, no care. No care, no community. Hell's Kitchen needs residents and businesses that care about community. We need the Chong's.

The Chong family with Spider. Empire Tailors & Cleaners, Hell's Kitchen New York City ©2018 E.B.Gallardo All Rights Reserved

Goodbye John, Tanya, Brian, and Amanda. Thank you for your work. Thank you for being the best of what neighborhood should be. Thank you for being family.