Tina’s Place is a Bushwick diner known for its low prices and early opening hours. The breakfast special (eggs, potatoes, and toast) costs $4.50. On weekdays, the greasy spoon opens at 3:30 a.m., catering to the truck drivers, factory workers, and nighthawks that populate the neighborhood. But recently, Tina’s discovered an unexpected source of revenue: novelty t-shirts.
“Everybody’s been asking for them,” said Athina (Tina) Skermo, during a recent interview at her no-frills eatery. “It’s good for business. Advertising, too.”
Skermo, 68, was surprised by the popularity of the $12 t-shirts. After all, they were meant to be sold as a novelty item. The restaurant hawked an older version from the 1990s until 2014. Those first-generation tops were less sought-after. When their old supplier went out of business, the restaurant decided to update the look with a Virginia-based company called Custom Ink. Since then, they’ve sold more than 2,100 of the second-generation shirts.
