Former NYC Business Owner Reflects on 9/11
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BELLS, Tenn. – It has been 11 years since terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York City, but for some West Tennesseans, it feels like just yesterday. That is the case for Singh Boparai, who used to own a convenience store two blocks from the twin towers. Now he owns two stores in Bells and Brownsville. He said he moved to West Tennessee in 2007 because business suffered tremendously after the attacks. “Close to 50,000 people used to work in those two towers, and we used to have those customers, also from the Wall Street area as well, from the tourism, because there’s a seaport nearby, but all that after the collapse, it was all gone,” Boparai said. And when he visited his business the next day, all he could see was smoke. Boparai told 7 Eyewitness News he was worried about his employees’ safety when he heard about the attacks, and wondered why they even happened. “I said, ‘What’s going on?’ He said people are just coming and they’re crying and their faces are all, you know, because of the smoke. I didn’t know what was going on. I said, ‘OK, be careful. Just start closing down the store,'” he said. Boparai said he will never forget 9/11. It is still on his mind all the time, even 11 years later. “I still remember the buildings. I used to go there, sit down in my free time, and it was such a beautiful place. You see people from all walks of life.” Though Boparai said he still misses New York, he is glad to call West Tennessee home.
