Covid-19 has hurt many small businesses. For some entrepreneurs, it has opened its doors.

But the struggles of some businesses presented opportunities for new projects. Homeowners who are reluctant to leave their windows empty offer more affordable leases, and the increased stress over the past year has led to increased demand for services such as facials and guided meditation, business owners said. Some entrepreneurs, fired at the beginning of the pandemic, decided to pursue their long-held dreams of owning their own businesses.

Here are the stories of five new companies – one in each neighborhood – that opened during the pandemic:

A spa in Brooklyn

Registered sisters and nurses Carla Nelson, 36, and Wendy Jules, 39, opened their doors to Fleur De Lis Beauty & Esthetics on Flatbush Avenue in July. The spa, which offers services such as chemical peels, IV hydration, facials and Botox, was quickly flooded with customers. They are now booked until June.

Ms. Nelson and her sister acknowledge their rapid success with strong support from the Midwood community and social media marketing. They also opened a few months after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police and said customers were eager to support black-owned businesses.

However, they have struggled to access capital when they started and now want to expand. The big banks refused them, and the only loan they managed to secure was $ 3,000 from a local black-owned bank. The sisters invested their livelihoods in business and turned to friends and family, including Mrs. Nelson’s husband, who emptied his 401 (k).

“We have skills, we don’t have funding,” said Nelson. “This is our number one challenge and our only challenge.”

A barber in Queens

José Campos, 39, was fired from a Manhattan retail store at the start of the pandemic. For several months he cooked and sold traditional Salvadoran food from his apartment. It was a skill he learned as a child when he accompanied his mother on tours, selling tamales from a grocery cart on the streets of Maryland, where the family lived after immigrating from El Salvador.

Mr. Campos has long wanted to own his own company and decided to go into business with his barber. The partners quickly found an accessible spot on Woodside’s Roosevelt Avenue and opened Bibi & JD’s Barbershop in September last year.

Six months later, the business pays its bills, but makes no profit. Attracting customers is a major challenge, Mr. Campos said.

“There is still a lot of fear in the Covid community,” he said.

Mr. Campos, who is preparing to receive a barber’s permit, recently sold part of his stake to his partner and opened a small clothing store in the barber shop, which he hopes will bring in more income. He is behind the rent for his apartment and said that the stress caused him to lose sleep and weight.

He is thinking of selling food from his apartment to make some extra income. His mother, feeling the need for support, flew a month ago from her home in Houston and is standing, ready to start making large batches of tamales.

A Thai restaurant in Manhattan

Sommy Putthida, 35, moved to New York to live with her family last spring after being fired from her job at a tech startup in San Francisco. Her cousin took her to the Pro Thai restaurant on Lexington Boulevard and found out through a local Thai Facebook group that the owners wanted to sell.

“I saw it as an opportunity,” she said.

She bought the business for $ 100,000 using the savings and money she borrowed from her family. It reopened under the new property in late May, and Ms. Putthida focused on digital marketing and strengthening the Pro Thai online ordering platform. She built outdoor chairs with a program from New York City Economic Development Corp. working with partners to provide pro-bono design services for small businesses.

She managed to keep all the employees of the East Harlem restaurant from the previous owner on pay, but not all of them work full time. She has not paid her rent for four months and may have to take out a loan to keep the business afloat, she said.

Business Services in the Bronx

Alicia Corso, 36, spent four years earning a degree in accounting while working as a tax associate at a tax preparation company and as an office manager at a personal injury law firm. She realized that in working-class communities, especially where many people speak English as a second language, there was a need for ad-hoc business and tax services.

“Not everyone can afford to have an accountant,” said Corso.

He saw a real estate opportunity when he learned that the owner of his daughter Morris Park’s hair salon was no longer working. The owner did not want the space to remain empty, and Mrs. Corso and her three partners managed to get a good deal with a lease.

In January, Ms. Corso opened AYAM Multiservices on White Plains Road. The company offers services such as tax preparation, notarization and translation – Ms. Corso is fluent in Spanish and her partners speak Arabic. The biggest emphasis he has now is to attract customers to the door.

“Slowly, it begins to rise,” she said.

A wellness center in Staten Island

Cheryl Lafer, 40, had thought about opening a holistic wellness center in 2019 and even designed the logo, but only after she hit the pandemic and saw so many people suffering from stress and anxiety, she decided to pull the trigger. She found a basement space on Lamberts Lane in the Mid-Island neighborhood and opened Heal & Prosper Holistic Wellness NYC in July last year.

The company’s services include reiki, guided meditation, yoga, sound baths and wellness coaching. The business is profitable, and Ms. Lafer is looking for more space and plans to add services, including facials and halotherapy, which is a salt chamber that Ms. Lafer says offers respiratory benefits.

“We’re in growing pain,” she said.

She attributes her partial success to social media marketing and a strong demand for pampering after a difficult year.

“The main cause of our customers’ entry is stress,” said Ms. Lafer. “We offer help with healing, personal care and self-love, and that’s what people need now.”

Write to Kate King to [email protected]