Floorspace and a business plan for Latinos' health
by Daniel P. Bader Can designer brands help people with diabetes? Rosa Rosen thinks so. On Sat., June 6, Rosen is opening Tesoros, a unique thrift store on Cooper Street in Inwood. The store, which will sell used designer clothes and new accessories, will support the other name on the sign: the Center for Diabetes and Hypertension. “This is an enterprise to train people with diabetes and hypertension to help them deal with their lives,” Rosen said. “We opened the thrift store to be self-sustainable.” Rosen is a 13-year activist who is working with the Latino community, plagued by high blood pressure and diabetes, to manage the disease and live longer lives. “We have an explosion of diabetes right now,” Rosen said. Over 10 million Latinos are confronted by the disease, and directly related to the high obesity rate Latinos suffer from. “I came into the world of diabetes when I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes,” Rosen said. She had suffered a fall from the second story of a building where she worked, and learned of her condition during her stay in the hospital. Even though seven women in her family had died from complications with the disease, she didn’t know anything about it. When her daughter, Adriana Nova, helped her to start learning about the disease, she realized that nothing was written in Spanish about the disease – it was all translated from the English. “I decided to do something about it,” she said. Trained as a lawyer, Rosen dedicated her life to learning about diabetes and helping Latinos deal with it. She started publishing a bilingual newspaper, Diabetes and Nutrition, and held support groups and classes to help people live with the disease. Tight economic times pushed her towards becoming more self-sustainable. “We have been lucky to be supported by several organizations,” Rosen said. But the recession forced those funders to cut back, and for Rosen to think creatively. “As the financial situation tightened … we decided to act,” she said. Her decision to act culminated in opening the thrift shop, an idea conceived by New Heights Realty agent Maria Camilo. “When we were looking for a place to live I became friends with Maria,” Rosen said. “She was so excited immediately. She said we had to start looking for this place.” Rosen wasn’t ready to commit to actually renting a space, and recoiled at the idea of shopping around. “[Camilo] said, ‘It’s going to take time.’” Nova is a fashion blogger, and planted the seed that led to opening the thrift shop to raise money. “We are thrifters – we buy at thrift shops,” Rosen said. “This skirt we found at a thrift store in the Bronx,” Nova said, holding up a patterned green and white skirt that she pulled off a rack in her soon-to-open store. “The color and the fabric are bright so it’s perfect for summer.” Every item in the store has a designer label – the skirt she held is made by Talbot – and each item has been hand picked by the mother-daughter team. The gently used clothes are displayed by color and still have a newness about them. All the clothes are ready to wear off the rack – organically dry cleaned by local cleaner Star Light Cleaners on W. 218th Street. Rosen and Nova sell the items alongside new accessories and interesting items like organic perfumes and cosmetics. When Rosen and Camilo started looking for a place to rent, they browsed through the quieter areas of Inwood north of Isham Street. Since then, a Chinese buffet and organic grocer have opened and a sushi restaurant is nearing completion. Cooper Street was a good fit. “I wanted a side street,” Rosen said. The 20’ X 14’space is nestled between a beauty parlor and a dry cleaner, which will help attract the ideal customers without competing with each other. “It increases traffic and we do not threaten each other,” Rosen said. She signed a three-year lease in the space, and even though the rent is higher than she wanted, she’s had a good reception. The landlord, Joe Katz, even installed a wooden platform for the cash register. “The bodega owner has definitely taken us under his wing,” she said. Besides lower rent, being located near residential buildings will draw customers. “We could only afford a small space,” she said. “I don’t think Broadway would be a good venue. I think [we] would be lost.” Cutlines: Rosa Rosen in Tereso, a new thrift shop on Cooper Street in Inwood. Rosen hopes the shop will help fund her life’s work – helping Latinos with diabetes and hypertension live and manage their disease. The Manhattan Times is the bilingual newspaper of Washington Heights and Inwood.
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