Day: November 25, 2025

Days before Brooklyn’s commercial sectors fill with Small Business Saturday shoppers, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams urged the city to rethink its position on how it supports minority entrepreneurs — and to do so at a moment when many institutions nationwide are scaling back on DEI initiatives. 

In a new report titled “Diverse Entrepreneurial Inclusion,” Williams outlined structural gaps in city contracting and argues that Minority and Women-Owned Businesses Enterprises (M/WBE) continue to be disadvantaged, despite years of promises and programming. 

Williams framed the report within the city’s long-standing identity as a homefor diverse entrepreneurs. 

“In New York City, we have long strived to celebrate diversity, recognizing it as a strength for not only our culture, but our economy,” he said. “Small businesses built by immigrants, minorities, and women are at the core of our economic identity in this city – but too many systemic barriers still prevent these ventures from growing their bottom line and our economy.”

The borough is home to 792 minority-owned businesses and 442 women-owned businesses, with 607 enterprises falling into both categories, according to the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. 

And while national backlash against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) practices continues to grow, Williams argued that narratives around DEI have been manipulated. 

“Many of the same critics who attack DEI principles are currently fanning the flames of hysteria about the incoming administration and its economic agenda, claiming it will harm businesses. But as this report demonstrates, the truth is that this can be a new era for business in New York City – strengthening the small and diverse businesses we are fortunate to have today, and supporting the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.”

The report concluded that “supporting diverse entrepreneurs is both socially and economically responsible.” Williams also acknowledged that in one of the world’s leading economic capitals, small business commerce must be embraced. 

Local barriers carry local consequences 

The Public Advocate’s office found that M/WBE’s receive only about 5% of city contracts — a figure that has remained stubbornly low. Those contracts also tend to be “low in value,” limiting potential for growth and stability. 

Many Brooklyn business owners have long voiced concerns over the city’s procurement process. The report says that many M/WBE’s “face a competitive disadvantage when pursuing city contracts compared to larger, longer-established and often national or international corporations.”

The report also found “several instances in which emergency waivers were used to bypass processes which would have afforded M/WBEs a shot at contracts, including on migrant services, NYC Solves, and NYC Reads.”

In some cases, the report notes, awarding contracts outside the M/WBE pool contributes to problems such as “low quality or culturally insufficient food in shelters,” an issue that hit close to home for communities hosting temporary shelters across the borough. 

As Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani prepares a new city administration, Williams outlines a series of recommendations, including restoring the budget for the Department of Small Business Services, improving procurement efficiency and increasing transparency in how contracts are awarded. 

Williams also called for the recruitment and support of M/WBE businesses, stronger statewide reforms and continuing Adams-administration initiatives like the creation of a Chief Business Diversity Officer.

Why this matters for Brooklyn

Many Brooklyn neighborhoods, such as DUMBO, Williamsburg, Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, are pillars of local commerce. Many hire from within their communities, reinvest earnings locally and tend to create products that reflect the cultural identities of the neighborhoods they serve.

With Williams’ report, he hopes it will “urge New Yorkers to seek out and support M/WBEs.” These businesses, he noted, contribute to a “more vibrant, equitable, and resilient local economy.” 

“This weekend, between Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, New Yorkers will spend a lot of money – let’s work to spend it in our communities, seeking out and supporting M/WBEs as we decide, with our dollars, the kind of economy we want to build. We can build economic power by exercising the economic power we have already fought for and gained,” he continued. 

In an era when national retailers and online sellers dominate book sales, independent bookselling is king at Bay Ridge’s The Bookmark Shoppe. The Third Avenue bookstore has built its reputation not through trends or gimmicks, but through a straightforward focus on books, service and long-standing relationships with local customers. 

“This is Christine’s baby,” staffer Erin Ruggieri said, referring to owner Christine Freglette. “Her dream in life was to open a store where she could sell people her favorite books. And I think she’s achieved that.” 

Freglette, raised in South Brooklyn, has spent her entire life in the retail industry. As Ruggeri put it, she has worked “back when people had jobs when they were 11 and 12 years old.” The Bookmark Shoppe first opened in 2000 on 11th Avenue. Later, after the owners of the former bookstore, A Novel Idea, decided to sell, they approached Freglette. 

“The sisters decided they were going to sell the store, and they offered [Freglette] first dibs, and that’s how we got moved to Third Avenue.”

Inside, the store carries a broad selection despite its limited footprint. 

“We offer everything, at least we try to offer everything,” Ruggeri said. The inventory includes fiction, a section featuring The New York Times bestseller wall, gift books, cookbooks, science and history titles, a children’s section, and a steadily growing sci-fi and fantasy collection tied to the popularity of romantasy. 

“We’re just small and condensed. We’re like a Campbell’s soup can,” Ruggeri laughed.

The store’s identity is closely tied to Bay Ridge itself. Ruggeri described the neighborhood as unusually stable and close-knit, even compared with other parts of the city. 

“We’re like the Hidden Valley of New York City,” she said. “Where you do have people that have lived here from cradle to grave — we are still one of the last places where you really do see that.” 

Many staff members — including Ruggeri and Freglette — grew up in the area, and that familiarity shapes how the store operates. 

Ruggeri also said customer loyalty has been a defining strength. 

“We’ve always had very loyal customers,” she said. “We know people by their first names. We know their kids. We’ve watched some kids grow up and go off to college. Kids get engaged to be married. A chain can’t do that.”

To combat competition from corporations, The Bookmark Shoppe differentiates itself by offering guidance and hands-on support. Ruggeri said that independent stores can respond to customer interests more flexibly than chains, especially when it comes to emerging authors or niche titles. 

“A big chain is not always going to have independent books that have been curated,” she said. The staff also routinely recommends books based on personal reading experience. “Nobody’s going to stand in the aisle with you and really sell you that book,” Ruggeri said of larger retailers.

The store’s approach to curation is driven by practicality rather than gatekeeping. 

“It’s very important,” Ruggeri said. “It’s not our job to dictate to people what they read. Our job is simply to either have it here if they want to purchase it quietly… or not shame them when they’re purchasing it.”

Looking ahead, she said the goal is to remain open and continue serving local readers. 

“Sometimes people come in here and they don’t even know that they’re a reader,” she said. Helping them identify genres they enjoy or navigate academic reading lists is a routine part of the work. “As long as we help create readers, we will be here for that,” Ruggeri said.

“So if it’s five years, 10 years or 20 years from now, we’re going to be here in some way, shape or form.”