The store owner Kevin Chan talks with a customer at his Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory in San Francisco's Chinatown, California, the United States, March 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)
Three customers patronized the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory in San Francisco's Chinatown and two purchases were made on Friday, the first business day after California implemented a stay-at-home order to contain the novel coronavirus spread.
A young customer paid three U.S. dollars for a pack of fortune cookies priced 2.5 dollars. In return, Kevin Chan, the store owner, took another pack from the shelf and gave it away for free. "This is not the time to make money. Thanks for supporting me in such a difficult time."
Fortune cookie is a crisp and sugary cookie with a blessing message note or lucky numbers inside. It is often served as a dessert in Chinese restaurants in the United States.
Since the spread of COVID-19 in the United States, the leisure industry of San Francisco, which used to attract about 26 million visitors with 10 billion dollars of spending each year, has declined dramatically. The largest and oldest Chinatown in the country has been hit by a steep drop in tourism, but the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory has insisted on producing and selling products.
Kevin Chan, owner of Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, poses for a photo at his store in San Francisco's Chinatown, California, the United States, March 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)
"Business has never been this hard. I have sold only two boxes of fortune cookies in about two months from Jan. 26 to the present. There should be 10 boxes of sales on a regular day," Chan said, adding that customers used to line up on the street corners before the virus outbreak, but now they are all gone.
"We stopped all three cookie-making machines in the store. This has never happened before. We have gone through many difficult times such as the big earthquakes in the Bay Area, aftershocks of 9/11 and the economic crisis in 2008. We never turned them all off."
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown wrote in an article with emotion, "I ran San Francisco after 9/11. I've dealt with earthquakes. I've dealt with the fallout from terrorist attacks ... This is worse."
Retired policeman Roland Wing, a friend of Chan, came to the store out of concern as Chan didn't answer his phone Friday morning.
"You are my second customer today," Chan joked.
"So what do I have to buy? You tell me, I will buy it," Wing tossed a joke back.
"No, I don't make money from friends," said Chan.
The store owner Kevin Chan sits at his Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory in San Francisco's Chinatown, California, the United States, March 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)
When saying goodbye, they bumped shoulders and kicked feet instead of shaking hands. According to San Francisco's stay-at-home order, only essential businesses such as supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations, laundries and banks would be allowed to stay open, and people should maintain social distance of at least six feet (1.8 meters) when going out.
"Mom passed the 58-year-old business to me. She hasn't stopped working for a day and I don't want the store to close in my hands for a day," Chan said.
"I am constantly fighting, not the same kind of fighting when I was busy with business. I just don't want the new coronavirus to knock me down, to knock the store down," he added.
The Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory was named as San Francisco Legendary Business in 2016, and the city declared June 8, 2018, as "Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company Day."
"It is not only a livelihood for me but a commitment to my mom and to the community," Chan watched a wall of photos of celebrities who visited his store.
"Fortune cookie is a way to express blessings, to connect people and make them happy. It is even more essential for us to carry a positive attitude amid coronavirus pandemic. I can't give up first if I want to bless people not to give up no matter how serious the epidemic is and to live a healthy and happy life. I feel that my store is like a lamp, I won't let it go out for a day," Chan said.
The store owner Kevin Chan walks in the alley where his Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory is located in San Francisco's Chinatown, California, the United States, March 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)
A customer called Jerry stopped at Chan's store and took a pack of fortune cookies which cost him 5.25 dollars. He talked about the COVID-19 pandemic with Chan, and they were both angry about U.S. President Donald Trump's "Chinese virus" remarks.
"This is very, very, very wrong, very, very, very crazy. The (novel coronavirus) outbreak can happen anywhere in the world, in Arizona or British Columbia," said Jerry, who disagreed with the idea of linking the virus to any country or ethnicity.
"The new coronavirus is a common challenge the whole world is facing with its origin still uncertain and inconclusive," Chan said. He believed that xenophobia and racism are neither fair nor clever. "This is an opportunity for China and U.S. to cooperate to eliminate viruses and benefit the world."
"China has made great progress for the last 40 years since reform and opening up. It has managed to contain the spread of COVID-19 epidemic ... Now China is assisting other countries' anti-epidemic combats," Chan said, adding that the slandering cannot cover the light of "Chinese virtues" that are presented.
"Today's turnover is 8.25 dollars," Chan smiled by the end of the day. "But there are priceless and essential things we have to hold onto."
