The owner of Greenjeans, a shop on Seventh Avenue between 15th and 16th wrote this about the strike:

Today the city’s mass transit workers went on strike shutting down all
subways and busses in all five boroughs. People trying to get into the
city had to either car pool, ride their bike, or walk, making for a
fairly dramatic morning commute. Granted it has been extremely
inconvienent for people, but in another respect it’s kind of chic —
practically like living in Paris!

Where we are in the southern
end of Park Slope, Brooklyn, many people opted to skip work today
rather than hike the several miles through the cold to their offices in
Manhattan. But evidently, rather than stay home, they came out in force to holiday shop.

This
was good news for Brooklyn shops like Greenjeans. Sales in Manhattan
may have been down dramatically today, but us Brooklyn shops had
nothing to complain about! In terms of foot traffic, today was the
busiest day we’ve ever had. There was hardly a minute that passed when
there wasn’t someone in the shop looking around. Many said they were
glad to have the opportunity to check out the local shops, and we’d
have to agree with them.

We hope that the transit workers and
the MTA are able to come to an amenable agreement very soon so that
everything can get back to normal. But in the meantime, we hope local
residents will take this opportunity to continue to enjoy the
neighborhood. Because shopping locally is always chic.