Small, local stores in East Harlem are suffering. One of the big ones reasons why is that rent in East Harlem has been on the rise for a while.

Seema Gul, 35, is the owner of Star Electronic Discount, Inc. between 110th and 109th streets, on Third Avenue. She bought the store with her husband two years ago.

“We were making $2000 a day. Now I can’t pay the rent. I have to borrow,” Gul says. They make about $200 a day now, and their rent is $5500, according to her.

According to a report by MNS, a real estate broker in Manhattan, while rent there is still low compared with any other area, when you scroll down to the very bottom and look at Harlem’s price trends, rates there are clearly rising as well.

While the rent prices going up has definitely affected local business owners, there has been a sharp drop in the bottom line of most local stores in the last two to three years specifically because of the opening of the East River Plaza.

As more people of middle income moved there, it made sense for stores like Target, Best Buy, Marshalls and Costco to to open as these people would be more inclined to buy a lamp from, say, Target than the 99 cents store. Unfortunately, local businesses like Gul’s electronic store cannot compete in terms of pricing.

“Sometimes people come in and say, “It’s cheaper in Best Buy,” and I say that this is not Best Buy. We are a small business, we can’t afford to have such low prices,” she says.

On the other hand, the competition might be good for the local community, specifically for people who live in Public Housing or are struggling to make ends meet as their rent goes up.

What do you think? Is the East River Plaza opening up a good thing for the community? Or do you feel that it’s not worth it due to way it affects local businesses?