Boro Park Store Owners Urge Kids to Stop Leaving their Scooters Lying in Store Entrances, Where People Often Trip

By Yehudit Garmaise

“Kids are coming constantly into the store with their scooters and bikes, which they park at the front of the store,” Moshe Landau the owner of Center Fresh Supermarket on 13th Avenue told Heshy Rubinstein from BoroPark24. “But most of the time the scooters and bikes just fall right down, and other customers who come in don’t realize the scooters are there, and many people trip.

“I already have two lawsuits, and I am not looking for more.”

“One customer was seriously injured after tripping on a small scooter on the floor. The dangers of the scooters lying around are very serious, and something that needs more awareness in the community.” 

While people can, chas v’shalom, get quite injured from tripping on a scooter, sometimes stores’ inventories can also get damaged, as well.

A manager at Yidel’s Supermarket at 4921 12th Ave. told Rubinstein a hair-raising story that took place when a kid came blazing into the grocery store on an electric scooter.

“He was riding, very quickly, very close to the shelves, when his scooter’s handle caught on many glass bottles of things like soy sauce and vinegar, which all ended up on the floor: causing a big mess and a lot of damage,” Yidel’s manager reported.

“Parents should educate their kids not to leave scooters right by the door, which is very, very dangerous, said Yossi Friedman, the manager of Super 13 Supermarket at 5214 13th Ave, who witnessed a boy riding a segue who drove over and broke an elderly customer’s toe.

“I don’t allow anymore riding in the store,” said Friedman. “Even when the kids not riding in the store, but just standing by the counter or by newsstands with their scooters sticking out behind them, people don’t see the scooters and can trip." 

Friedman added that while he hasn’t been injured by scooters in his store, BH, he has tripped over them several times.

“Leaving the scooters around is very dangerous, and people trip over them every day.

I keep removing them, but both kids and adults should know that leaving the scooters lying around creates a very big danger to other people.”

A year ago, Friedman recalled, an elderly lady who ended up needing hip surgery after tripping not on a scooter, but on a baby carriage that was sticking out a little bit right in front of Super 13.

“While tripping on an object for people of any age can be dangerous and painful,” Rubinstein pointed out. “For elderly people, bad falls can require surgery and can mark the end of their healthy lives.”

“The scooters are very dangerous [when left on the ground],” said Meyer, the manager of Kosher Food Depot at 1279 42nd St.  People can fall on the scooters, and c’vs break their heads or feet.

“I have many videos of kids and adults falling on scooters, which are very dangerous, left in the entranceway.”

“Leave the scooters outside,” Meyer wants to tell the kids in the neighborhood, “Don’t bring the scooters into the store because they are very dangerous. Leave them outside, and lock them up, but for sure don’t bring them inside.”