Nina Roberts

Independent Businesses and other types of MERCANTILE MAYHEM

Hello, I’m Nina Roberts, a New York City-based journalist and photographer covering independent businesses through the lens of culture and immigration. These stories have been published in The New York Times, Guardian and Grub Street, among other outlets, along with my photos. A selection of my random photos and outtakes are on the PHOTOS page. Please take a look at my newsletter NYC’s Mercantile Mayhem for news about the survival of independent businesses.

Small Biz Trends

NEW YORK TIMES Squeezed by Soaring Rent, Small Shops Get Creative [Read Story]

NEW BUILDERS DISPATCH Brands Gone Berserk: Early Days of Threads Was a Small Brand Bonanza, But Traffic Faded [Read Story]

NEW BUILDERS DISPATCH It’s Been 40 Years Since an Independent Restaurant in Maine Unionized. Here’s Why the Owners Welcomed the Change [Read Story]

NEW YORK TIMES Entrepreneurs Who Keep It Real in “About Us” [Read Story]

rebels with jars: Modern Packaged Foods

GUARDIAN ‘Trademark bully’: Momofuku turns up heat on others selling ‘chili crunch’ [Read Story]

NEW BUILDERS DISPATCH Got Bloat? The Easier To Digest A2 Milk [Read Story]

NEW BUILDERS DISPATCH Modern Mexican Food Brands Give Old El Paso The Boot [Read Story]

TIMES OF E Sparkling Shrub Drink Made with Founder’s Aronia Berries [Read Story]

GUARDIAN Rebel with a ‘Tingly’ Cause: Yao Zhao Brings Sichuan Pepper to the US [Read Story]

OBSERVER Single Origin Olive Oil from Spain, Now in Squeeze Bottles [Read Story]

TIMES OF E POKS Spices Founder Abena Foli, West African Rooted Flavors in the U.S. [Read Story]

NEW YORK TIMES Female Entrepreneurs Who Confront a Particular Kind of Troll [Read Story]

Berry Bissap, Akua Kyerematen Nettey, photo: Nina Roberts. — IMBIBE Akua Kyerematen Nettey’s Hibiscus Berry Bissap has Roots in West Africa [Read Story]

Meherwan Irani, co-owner of Chai Pani and Spicewalla. — TIMES OF E Meherwan Irani’s Chai Pani and Spicewalla in Asheville, NC [Read Story]

NEW YORK TIMES Foods From Afar Hope to Catch the Eye of American Shoppers. Photo: Nina Roberts — NEW YORK TIMES Foods From Afar Hope to Catch the Eye of American Shoppers [Read Story]

Food Enterprises & Tech Startups

Mark Kimball of Essex Farm. Photo: Nina Roberts — TIMES OF E Essex Farm offers an unusual CSA cheaper than McDonald’s [Read Story]

GUARDIAN Palestinian Business Owners in The U.S. Speak Up For Gaza. Photo: Nina Roberts — GUARDIAN Palestinian Business Owners in The U.S. Speak Up For Gaza [Read Story]

IMBIBE Cafe Buunni Brings Slow Coffee to NYC. Photo: Nina Roberts. — IMBIBE Cafe Buunni Brings Slow Coffee to Bustling NYC [Read Story]

Design Entrepreneurs & Service businesses

THE ROBB REPORT Beni Rugs in Marrakech, Morocco, Weaves Together Traditional and Modern Style [Read Story]

TIMES OF E A New Way to Locally Manufacture Custom Furniture [Read Story]

TIMES OF E A STEM Woman Needs a Stylish Steel Toe [Read Story]

Ella Lim of Verloop knitwear. — TIMES OF E Ella Lim’s Verloop Makes Knitwear from Deadstock Yarn [Read Story]

Fluffy Christian Cowen dog jumper at Maxbone, founded by Parissa Fowles-Pazdro. Photo Nina Roberts — BIZ OF BIZ Maxbone Designs “affordable” Luxury Goods for our Four-legged Friends [Read Story]

Juan Palacio founder of BloomsyBox. — TIMES OF E Juan Palacio’s BloomsyBox and The Certified Flower Farms [Read Story]

Enterprising Networks

GUARDIAN ‘It legitimizes us’: the minority businesses still fighting for recognition [Read Story]

NEW BUILDERS DISPATCH How Saint Javelin Plans To Help Rebuild Ukraine [Read Story]

BIZ OF BIZ BFF: Crypto with Jaime Schmidt and Brit Morin [Read Story]

GRUB STREET Voting Is Wonderful. Free Pizza Makes It Better. — GRUB STREET Voting Is Wonderful. Free Pizza Makes It Better [Read Story]

POlicies Impacting Immigrant-owned Businesses

NEW BUILDERS DISPATCH Are Startups a Better Model For Humanitarian Work? [Read Story]

Various & Sundry: the Quasi-archived, UnPublished and Non-Biz Articles

Andrew Coté of Andrew's Honey. Photo: Nina Roberts. — BIZ OF BIZ Inflation and Artisanal Packaged Food [Read Story]

Mina Sahar Saffron founder Palwasha Raqib, selling saffron from Afghanistan. Photo: Nina Roberts — BIZ OF BIZ Afghan Food Entrepreneurs in the US Who Source from Afghanistan [Read Story]

Mona Lipson of Miss Mona Makes Ice Cream. Photo: Nina Roberts — TIMES OF E Mona Lipson of Miss Mona Makes Ice Cream Boosts Food Entrepreneur [Read Story]

Serial Entrepreneur Miki Agrawal on Tushy’s Unconventional Bidet Marketing. Photo: Nina Roberts — BIZ OF BIZ Q&A with Serial Entrepreneur Miki Agrawal on Tushy’s Unconventional Bidet Marketing [Read Story]

GRUB STREET A Star Farmer’s Newest Workers: His Former Customers — GRUB STREET A Star Farmer’s Newest Workers: His Former Customers [Read Story]

Burlap and Barrel founders Ethan Frisch and Ori Zohar. Photo: Nina Roberts — BIZ OF BIZ Meet The Burlap & Barrel founders, disrupting a 4,000-year-old industry and taking on "Big Spice” [Read Story]

The pizza ordering app Slice. Photo: Nina Roberts — BIZ OF BIZ The pizza ordering app giving your corner slice joint a fairer piece of the pie [Read Story]

BIZ OF BIZ "They’re monsters." New York's $65 million bailout plan helps lenders, not drivers, says a top taxi driver advocate — BIZ OF BIZ "They’re monsters." New York's $65 million bailout plan helps lenders, not drivers, says a top taxi driver advocate [Read Story]

GRUB STREET A Completely New Soft-Serve Lands in New York — GRUB STREET A Completely New Soft-Serve Lands in New York [Read Story]

TIMES OF E Conversations With Black VCs on Economic Justice and Black-owned Startups — TIMES OF E Conversations With Black VCs on Economic Justice and Black-owned Startups [Read Story]

NEW YORK TIMES Party Planners on Pause. Photo: Nina Roberts — NEW YORK TIMES Party Planners on Pause, Awaiting Revelry’s Return [Read Story]

THE NEW YORK TIMES The Frantic Fun of Hunk-O-Mania, spiked due to covid [Read Story]

MARKETPLACE Some Small Businesses are Flourishing During The COVID-19 Pandemic — MARKETPLACE Some Small Businesses are Flourishing During The COVID-19 Pandemic [Read Story]

MARKETPLACE As COVID-19 Spreads, Manhattan’s Chinatown Contemplates a Bleak Future — MARKETPLACE As COVID-19 Spreads, Manhattan’s Chinatown Contemplates a Bleak Future [Read Story]

MARKETPLACE Toilet Advocate Brings Levity to Dark Matter — MARKETPLACE Toilet Advocate Brings Levity to Dark Matter [Read Story]