The streets of SoHo are quiet. Many of the storefronts remain covered with plywood.

"Though we were not looted, we were a staging area for it,” said Linda Pagan, the owner of the Hat Shop. "Cars from out of state circling round and round,” 

Other commercial districts are showing a pulse now that the governor is allowing curbside pickup of merchandise, part of the Phase 1 reopening of the city's economy. But SoHo, one of the most famous shopping districts of all, remains in a deep sleep after last week's looting.

Sean Sweeney of the SoHo Alliance told us half of the stores were plundered.

"Will the stores come back? It depends on insurance and capitalization,” said Sweeney. "People who have that capitalization because of COVID for two to three months, I don't think the plywood is coming down until the city opens fully."

Indeed, globally known retailers like Coach, Eileen Fisher, and Missoni are not just closed after being targeted by looters. None appear close to any kind of reopening.

The Hat Shop is an oasis in this new retail desert. Locally owned, it was not vandalized and is open for curbside pickups.

Pagan is also the president of SoHo Village NYC, a group of independently owned stores here. She said she counts on regular customers to get by.

"If you're relying on foot traffic, it's going to be very difficult,” Pagan said. “If you have an established base of customers, you're going to rely on them."

She said the biggest hurdle to SoHo's return is the lack of tourists, and until they feel comfortable returning after New York's explosion of coronavirus cases, many stores in SoHo will struggle.

“We have no tourists coming in.” Pagan said.

Sweeney said landlords will have to work with stores to help them through this difficult time.

"Some stores are going to go out of business. The landlords are going to have to lower the rent,” Sweeney said.

That means this once-thriving retail district may not be thriving again any time soon.