The owner of Double Chin Restaurant and Bao Bao Bakery says she is facing eviction from her two Chinatown businesses, after about 8 years in operation. Owner Gloria Chin grew up in Boston and says that Chinatown “has always been a really big part of my identity” as her family has been involved in businesses in the neighborhood for multiple generations. We spoke to her about the struggles of running a business in the area — including hiring staff, rising costs and rent hikes — as well as zoning and other issues.

What are some of the challenges your businesses are facing?

It’s really hard to hire people, especially good people. It feels like ever since Covid, that has been a consistent issue. Another issue is the price increases, like a disproportionate price increases. Especially within the bakery industry, products like milk and eggs have jumped a lot higher, much more quickly than like a lot of other products. And shipping costs have gone up a lot for the products that we use since the pandemic. Since Covid-19, there has definitely been less foot traffic because there are fewer people working in the offices, and then a huge increase in our rent….

What are some changes that you’ve noticed in the neighborhood?

It has changed a lot. There’s definitely been pros and cons. The Chinatown gate area looks really nice now. And it feels like within the last five years, they’ve been continuously improving that little park. So that’s been really nice. And I’ve loved seeing the summer events that they’ll do there. They have public movie screenings. And then they have lanterns lit up around the clock.

And then some of the other changes – there’s just been a disproportionate amount of franchises opening in the area. And I personally feel like nothing sucks the soul out of a community more than Asian Starbucks. I feel like in our zip code, half of it is boba shops and specifically franchises. There’s less and less independent businesses and just less unique restaurants in general.

Why should we have more small, locally owned businesses instead of franchises?

It gives the community a choice in how they want to spend their money. It’s not going to a large conglomerate, and I think that at the end of the day the small business owners are going to be the ones who care about creating community and like advocating for the community, doing something for the people that live here. You’re just not going to get that from these corporations who really are just here to make money….

And the restaurant industry is often dominated by males and white males. Might I add so it feels very empowering to be a young female entrepreneur of color who is contributing to the restaurant scene, not just in Chinatown, Boston, but also Boston in general. And given my identity — of my sister having grown up here and our family roots to Chinatown and having done business in Chinatown for decades — it only makes sense for us to stay here.

How can community members support you?

Just making our voice heard as a community can definitely help; spreading awareness and showing to the outside investors or the city that, we, as a community, are standing strong, stronger than ever together, to stand up for what we believe is right.

I think we need to have hard conversations with people to spread awareness about, not just what I’m going through, but what like all small business owners are going through. Why? It’s important to vote with your money, and also just educating people about the dangers of gentrification and over modernizing, if that’s a word.

You know, the city is proposing new zoning guidelines for Chinatown, a height of 80 feet on your corner. Do you have an opinion about that?

I have a very mixed opinion. I think that one of the benefits to keeping the restrictions at 80 feet is, it helps our little Chinatown feel like a Chinatown and not Seaport per se. You see, like what overdevelopment has done to the Chinatown in Manhattan. And people don’t really go there anymore. But a lot of the small businesses are struggling in Manhattan’s Chinatown ever since all the developments happened. Based on what people want for our zoning, it sounds like it’s going to end up looking like that — a lot of tall hotels, a lot of tall buildings. I do understand that housing is a very scarce resource in not just Chinatown, but all of Boston. So I do see how that would be a benefit of expanding the heights of the buildings. But I think that if they were to just be hotels and not even really be for housing and for helping grow the community of people who want to live here. I don’t think that is that purposeful.

Why is being in Chinatown important to you?

It is meaningful to me because I have helped my parents at their multiple businesses throughout my entire life in Chinatown. So it’s kind of just been a core part of who I am, and I think that it’s really beautiful to kind of carry on their torch in my own way, and continue living out their legacy for them. So that to me is very meaningful.

Lowe is the Executive Director of the Chinatown Community Land Trust.