Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press
Published 10:48 a.m. ET Nov. 23, 2020
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he believes New York will see a spike in COVID-19 cases after the Thanksgiving holiday; Nov. 18, 2020.
New York State Team
NEW YORK — In souvenir shops from Times Square to the World Trade Center, shelves full of T-shirts and trinkets still (heart) New York. But the proprietors wonder when their customers will, again.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken a voracious bite out of a slice of New York life as recognizable as a piece of pizza: the gifts-slash-luggage-and-sometimes-slash-electronics stores that dot tourist-friendly areas, offering Statue of Liberty figurines, toy taxis, NYPD ballcaps, Big Apple fridge magnets and anything and everything emblazoned with the famous “I (HEART) NY” logo. The memento markets are enough of a New York institution that a recent ”Saturday Night Live” skit was set in one.
Like the miniature-skyline snow globes they sell, the shops are a microcosm of a city that has thrived on drawing visitors from around the world and now is feeling their near-absence.
“It’s a fight for survival,” Ali Zaidi said one recent morning at his shop two blocks…
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