On Monday, she got the call that they were being shut down. Kat had been holding up her pizza business for about 20 years to date. The shop was named Cornerstone Pizza and It was a family run business that was a beloved spot for the community. The business was priorly owned by Kat’s father and grandfather who had a love for cooking and serving the community. The pizza shop was based in Downtown Manhattan where people would crave for a homemade pie after work or on an off day.

It was a perfect spot for the people of Manhattan, it was accessible, cheap, and you could taste the warmth and comfort of a welcoming family. The cheap pizza sounds great on paper, but behind the scenes in the business world, it was very harmful financially for Kat. She struggled to pay the rent on the shop due to the low price and high demand of the pizza, and she had to balance that with the necessities that she needed in her own life. She was living in a rundown apartment that she also had to pay rent for, even though she was basically living at the shop. These expenses made Kat’s life very hard to live, but her mindset was always, “At least I still have the shop, right?”.

When she went to open the shop on one of the last mornings of fall, there was concern in the cold air, and Kat could feel it. She walked up to the door of the shop and saw a white slip of paper. As she got closer she could read the paper. The paper said in big letters “Eviction Notice” with smaller letters under it that Kat was too stunned to read.

All of the memories of the shop started flooding her mind. The memories that she had made with her dad and grandfather as a child, the smiles of satisfaction on customers faces after their long day, and the friendships and relationships that Kat had made through the business. Kat knew she was late on the rent, but she was trying her hardest to pay it off in time, but she couldn’t do it.

The store was bought by Domino’s due to the great location of the shop, and Kat didn’t know what to do. She was lost in the memories and good times with her father and was never fully able to recover. She could vividly remember the conversations they had, and all the laughs and smiles that the store had created. What was once a flourishing family business, turned into a new building owned by a larger corporation, destroying what once was a sanctuary for a beloved family.