Adams' Mask Off Stance Faces Skepticism From Bodega Workers

NEW YORK CITY — Bodega manager Mohammed Ali agrees with Mayor Eric Adams that it'd be easier to stop shoplifters and troublemakers if they had to take their masks off to enter his Park Slope store.

But Ali also doesn't think it's worth asking potentially dangerous customers to remove their face coverings, even if only for a second.

"If you ask, people will fight and there will be trouble," he told a Patch reporter.

Bodega and smoke shop workers who spoke with Patch expressed a mixed-to-negative view of Adams' recent controversial call that New Yorkers remove or lower masks when they enter stores to scare off would-be thieves.

None had even heard of Adams' mask off stance, which he first expressed amid a spate of interviews Monday.

“We are putting out a clear call to all of our shops, do not allow people to enter the store without taking off their face mask,” he told 1010 WINS.

Adams argued dropping masks would help fight a wave of retail thefts that has washed over the city. But many health experts and New Yorkers criticized him for seemingly prioritizing property over public health, given that the coronavirus is still spreading and many people are immunocompromised.

And, as one reporter queried during a press conference following Friday's fatal shooting of an Upper East Side bodega worker, would a determined, armed robber acquiesce to such a request?

But Adams waved off criticisms and doubled down Tuesday during a news conference.

“We’ve got so used to the mask that we don’t realize there’s a large volume of people that are wearing it not because of COVID: (but) because they’re criminals,” he said.

Some workers agreed that wearing masks could be a sign of trouble.

At a smoke shop, a worker told Patch that “with masks, it’s no safety,” as he pointed to security cameras behind him. “They can’t see you.”

“No masks is good,” he said.

A deli and smoke shop worker along Park Slope's Fifth Avenue said he had no problem with "small masks" meant to protect against the coronavirus. Larger face coverings were a different matter, he said.

"Sometimes, you don't know who it is," he said.

Another worker on the Upper East Side, who didn’t want his name to be used, said that while he feels more comfortable now that people aren’t wearing masks as much, he wasn't going to start asking people to remove them if they wanted to wear them.

“I haven’t heard about that,” he said when asked about the mayor's announcement.

“We don’t really have a lot of issues here. No mischief.”

One Upper East Side bodega worker told Patch that he hadn’t heard the masks-off suggestion and didn’t think that it would have an effect on safety.

Niff, a worker at a nearby Second Avenue bodega, said she didn’t think that masks were a safety issue, either.

“We don’t really have a problem with anyone," she said. "If people come in the store with a mask, I don’t ask him to take it off. I’m not sure what effect will have."

Bodega worker Santiago, who was wearing a mask himself, said he doesn’t plan on asking people to remove their face coverings when they come into the store.

“I don’t think it’s a safety issue," he said. "I don’t feel unsafe when people come in wearing masks.”

As for Ali, the manager of Slope Natural Plus in Park Slope, he's a bit more concerned about the dangers of masked people.

He said two of his relatives have been shot by masked gunmen while working in a Queens bodega. Thankfully, both survived, he said.

"My opinion is I'd like everyone to be open-faced," he said.