Herald Square Christmas Market business owner vows to come back from devastating fire

NEW YORK — A small business owner whose booth went up in flames in Herald Square is struggling financially.

The setback is causing her to cancel upcoming business events.

“The space was beautiful”

Nilo Amerzada’s dream is designing jewelry, inspired by her grandmother.

“I started doing farmer’s markets to gain visibility,” she said.

Amerzada opened her shop called Nur on Lafayette Street in August and, determined for more visibility, her booth came to life on Dec. 6 at the Herald Square Christmas Market.

“That opening day was a tough day. It was freezing cold outside. I was just exhausted. I was like we are here, we’re fine. The space was beautiful,” she said.

It was months of work and countless hours pouring her heart and soul into preparing the booth for the Christmas season.

“I hadn’t slept in months. Preparations for the holiday usually starts during the summertime for most businesses,” Amerzada said. “Especially for the holiday markets. You want to be ready for the volume. You want to make sure you have merchandise.”

Amerzada lost $50,000 in the devastating fire

Ten days later, her phone rang in the morning with the devastating news.

“I got a phone call from my employee around 9:30. She said the business is gone,” Amerzada said. “I didn’t believe her. I burst into tears. I didn’t know what that meant.”

Her booth had gone up in blames. Video shows firefighters dousing it with water.

“I had a lot of emotions, and I don’t want to say a dead end, but when you have worked so hard on something and then you hear tragic news, you think it’s hard to recover from that,” Amerzada said.

She said she lost more than $50,000 in the fire, and hundreds of her jewelry pieces were charred. Her insurance didn’t accept her claim. In the end, it has been a big financial hit.

“I don’t have investors, backers, money coming in large amounts,” Amerzada said. “There were some plans for the new year that I had to cancel. We had big collaborations coming up for Valentine’s Day and product launches that i can’t afford to invest in right now.”

She is vowing to take “a step forward”

But the 30-year-old, who is determined to work on her dream, said she knows a setback only means getting back up and back at work.

“You chose your perspective in a sense and you kind of choose to move on. I can be either miserable or you can just take a step forward,” she said.

Clearly, a mindset for success.