Stuyvesant’s Favorite Deli Survives!

“I never knew that we were so important, I guess, or so well regarded,” said the owner of Terry’s Deli, last week. It was November 11, and news had just traveled down the block that the deli would be closing that day. There was a ubiquitous feeling of shock and anger at school. Michael Sims, Jr. had told his staff to come in late the next day. “I originally told them, listen, don’t even come early. Come at nine o’clock, because I’m going to rent a U-Haul to get all this stuff out of here.” Although now Terry’s has been tentatively saved and will remain open for at least the next few months, this scare revealed the irreplaceable role Sims and his store play in the Stuyvesant community. 

Michael Sims Sr. started opening delis all around Manhattan in the early 1980s. He named each of them after one of his kids: Jenny’s, Debbie’s, Allen’s Marketplace, and so on. Eventually, there were 32 delis and the only Sims kid who did not have a store in his name was Michael Sims, Jr., a trained pharmacist and pastry chef-extraordinaire, who is best known as the owner of Stuyvesant’s beloved Terry’s deli. Terry’s opened in 1999, and he’s been the full-time mastermind behind the operation since 2005. Much of the family franchise has had to close because of rising prices; just last year, Jenny’s Marketplace in Hell’s Kitchen shut down because of changes following the pandemic. So when Sims’s landlord told him that he would have to close down Terry’s, one of the two remaining family stores, Sims knew that staying open was an important fight to win. 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses like Terry’s have been struggling. During the height of the lockdown, Terry’s never marked up prices on paper towels, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, or other necessities, and without the constant flow of hungry teenagers, they made little to no profit. After the lockdowns were lifted, new troubles arose when inflation reached a record high of 9.1 percent in 2022. The fallout from these events has been severe. “Business in general, in the whole country, is just difficult. Profit margins are down,” said Sims. “A lot of places are raising their prices a lot, but with kids, you can’t raise them too much. Prices are probably up 40 percent [compared to] two years ago, but I can’t raise my prices 40 percent.” These economic troubles led to a dispute with their landlord, who owns the deli’s home at 41 River Terrace. Sims had been negotiating to keep Terry’s open and avoided announcing their closure for a few weeks, but soon the last day of their lease, November 11, arrived. “I was like wow, the day’s really here,” said Sims. 

That day was an emotional one, and not just for Sims and the rest of Terry's staff; many students and teachers came into Terry’s, crying. Sims was surprised by how sad some students who’d only been coming to Terry’s for a short time were. “The sophomores, they’ve only been coming for two years, but they’re still emotionally attached to us. It hurts me to hurt them,” said Sims. “I want to be here so that they can get their pizza bagels. I’d practically be out of a job if I closed, but I’m primarily concerned about being here for them—to serve them.” Some students and parents even offered to picket outside of Terry’s to keep the store open. Sims told them it wasn’t necessary. “I don't think it's gonna make a difference, but it feels good that, you know, people care,” said Sims. 

Terry’s became an indubitable part of the Stuyvesant identity generations ago, and this relationship has only grown; maybe this is because Terry’s one of the few businesses that’s stayed local ever since Stuy relocated to TriBeCa. Sims remembers feeling close to Stuy students on 9/11. “We felt the impact that day. In the 9/11 documentaries that they air on 9/11 every year [...] you see guys running with Terry shirts; you see students crying in each other’s arms,” said Sims. “It kind of brought us all close, you know, the residents, everybody. We all felt the pain at the same time.” Sims also remembers the 2017 terrorist attack that took place right outside of Stuyvesant on the West Side Highway. 

It may be due to this shared history that Stuy students return to Terry’s even after they graduate. “Anytime I see someone on a Saturday who’s like 29 years old, coming with this big smile, saying ‘Can I have a pizza bagel?’ I say, ‘Did you go to Stuy?’ They say, ‘Yeah, I came back for my pizza bagel.’” said Sims. Even his attorney, who negotiated a deal to keep Terry’s open, has two daughters who graduated from Stuyvesant. One of those daughters, who just received an MFA in economics from Cambridge, might even help Terry’s out with some advertising when she returns to the States. 

While Sims mostly knows students by their orders—‘the everything bagel’, ‘the baconeggandcheese’—Terry’s staff has come up with a few nicknames for memorable students and teachers over the years, including music teacher Joseph Tamosaitis, whom Terry’s staff has dubbed ‘Maestro.’ “He’s the greatest,” Sims said. 

Sims also mentioned English teacher Dr. Minkyu Kim, a frequent Terry’s customer whose go-to-order is a baconeggandcheese. “I’ve known those boys for 10 years. I’m just so happy they figured it out.” Kim said.

Sims noted that he understood why some students were confused about whether or not Terry’s was still open. “I kinda felt bad; like do people think I posed some kind of lowball promotion? I’ve heard people rumbling ‘I thought they were closed and they’re still here.’” Sims said. Instead, Sims actually had to take a financial risk to keep Terry’s alive. “Sometimes when you have a business, you have to take money out of your pocket to pay the bills, and hopefully you get it back. I just threw a little lifeline for the time being; hopefully things pan out.” 

“For the short term, we’re definitely still here, but it could quite possibly be that in the three, four months we’re not,” said Sims. “December, January, February, are our three slowest months, so we’re going into the worst period at the worst time.” Even though it’ll be a long-term effort to keep Terry’s going strong, when asked how to clear things up with Stuyvesant students, Sims said, in true Gen-Z fashion, to yell out “Terry’s is back, slay!”