The coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing rent crisis have hit businesses across the nation hard, but they dealt a fatal blow to E&D Shoes in Claremont this month. Owner David Santini has closed up shop after operating the store at various locations around the city for 40 years.
The residential and business tenants in E&D’s building received paperwork from their landlord demanding unpaid rent in mid-July, two weeks after a statewide moratorium on evictions expired.
Santini said last Tuesday that he was about four months behind on rent even before the pandemic but continued making payments as he was able. When the pandemic began, he closed the store for four months and continued to fall behind, leading his landlord to demand nearly $13,000 in back payments. “That’s a lot of money,” Santini said. “I’ll never make that back.”
The store’s last day of business was Saturday, and he’s scheduled to move out of the building Friday.
