The Island's small businesses continue to suffer in the competitive environment created by Gristede's, the supermarket many love to hate for high prices and lax customer service.  Bigelow Pharmacy was bought out.  The Card 'n Gift store changed its business strategy.  The owner of The Fish Market gave up two months ago and sold his store to a newcomer, James Ahn, who is struggling to establish his store as an alternative.

Ahn moved from Philadelphia to New York recently, and saw an advertisement in the paper about the store's sale.  "I came to Roosevelt Island and thought I could give running this dying store a shot," said Ahn.  He saw a shortage of quality produce at low prices and decided to exploit that niche.  "Everything on the Island is so expensive, I can hardly believe it," he said.

"I am trying to give the customer wholesale prices on fruit and vegetables," said Ahn.  He sells cauliflower for as low as $1.59 a head and lettuce at 99 cents.  He claims his prices are at least 30% below Gristede's.

"I bring stuff every morning.  I buy fish on demand and have even brought shark for customers who have asked for it," said the newcomer.  Though it seems as if he is selling more produce than fish, Ahn claims he has the same volume of fish as the previous owner.

The volume of customers has been growing steadily and, if all goes well, James says he plans to move next year into the vacant space once occupied by Bigelow Pharmacy.

It took Mohammed Ali Khan, 46, more than five years to make a success of running the Card 'n Gift store on Roosevelt Island.  It took him less than six months to realize that his changed business strategy is not as successful as he had hoped it would be.  Khan has been selling extension cords, shoe polish, steel mixing bowls, ceramic soup bowls, photo frames, trays, stationery items and candles for less than a dollar since Christmas last year.  "There isn't enough margin in the business.  I get barely ten cents on every item sold," said Khan.

"After having worked 15 hours a day, seven days a week, for 13 years, I am now ready to give the business one more year to prove that this has been worth it.  I am in debt, I am behind in paying rent and I am losing hope," said Khan.  He hopes that the new Southtown development will bring a new clientele.  If not, he will have to consider closing shop.  "I would hate to leave but I have no option.  My lease is up for renewal and, unless I cough up past dues, I will not be able to sign it."

In better days, Khan had a 50% margin on every card he sold.  He sold 700 newspapers a day, making a 20% profit on the sales.  Cigarette and candy sales were high and his gift items sold at a profit.  Today, he has been reduced to selling his cards at half-price because Gristede's offers a wider selection.  Newspaper sales are down to 300 a day.  He has been peddling 99-cent goods, hoping more people will stop by, but the volume of business is not high enough to sustain rent payment - a hefty $3,500 a month.

The downward spiral began way back in 1989 when he was forced to remove video game machines from his store.  Some children got into a big fight and he decided to avoid discipline problems by taking the machines out.  Soon after, the Youth Center brought in free machines.

In 1990, the bus stop location was changed.  "Moving the stop away from here caused massive disruption in my business," said Khan.  When the bus stop was in front of his store, he claims he did brisk business, selling newspapers, cigarettes and candy to batches of 30 to 40 people waiting for the bus.  Now, hardly anyone stops by in the mornings.  They go directly to the subway stop, where someone else is selling newspapers.  Khan said he complained to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation that the new vendor did not possess a license to sell newspapers at the subway stop, but he was told it was MTA property.  When he talked to MTA officials, they said it was RIOC's property.  Having wasted time and effort, Khan gave up.

The final straw was the conversion of Sloan's into the Gristede's megastore.  "They are big fish and, though I didn't get swallowed up like Bigelow's, I got badly hit," said Khan.  Unlike Sloan's, Gristede's sells cigarettes by the pack.  It sells cards, newspapers, magazines and candy - plus everything else.  "No one wants to walk down to my store anymore.  They just go to Gristede's and buy everything there," said Khan.

Those who do make the effort to go to Khan's store are pleasantly surprised.  Tracy Thomas, who stops by every once in a while, said she loves the new merchandise.  "Everything is very cheap.  If I require anything for my household, I always check to see if it is available at the 99-cent store.  I got a fantastic set of knives and lots of stuff for my child - blocks, paints, play-dough and paper," said Tracy.

Faithful customers go into Khan's shop partly because they like him.  "Nice people work here and I have good conversations with them," said Al "Grandpa Munster" Lewis.  "Ali says hello to me and makes me feel nice," said Iris Adams, who still buys cards at his store.  "Ali is a gentleman and I like to come here," said Louise Nardin, who has been a customer ever since the store opened.

The feeling is reciprocated.  Khan says he thinks of everyone around him as his family, adding, "I have been here for so long that it would break my heart to leave."