"When the bricks started flying, I right away shut off my lights," explained Greenwald. "That way I don't make such a good target and I go out and save a lot of merchandise. Pretty soon, however, so much stuff comes flying in even without the lights that I give up and think only of saving myself. Even in the store I wasn't safe, entirely, look!"

He held up a ten-pound slab of paving. One bullseye from this fellow and right away Mrs. Greenwald is a widow. Anyway, I lose about twenty suiting lengths of woolens, uninsured, and believe me never did goods leave my store so quick! No waiting to pick patterns either!"

Although Greenwald did not give the time that attacks on his store started, it was likely around 8:45 PM. That was when objects were being thrown at the windows of Jack Sherloff's jewelry store directly across 7th Avenue and at Herbert's Blue Diamond Jewelry store down the block on the corner of West 125th Street. The stores would still have been open at that time so owners and staff had the opportunity to protect their stock. Greenwald mentioned a period of time when objects were being thrown at the store before anyone took goods from the store, but it appeared briefer than general accounts that suggest an interval between attacks on businesses and looting. Merchandise was likely taken from the business beginning around 10:00 PM, when the first arrest for looting on 7th Avenue was made. However, he did have time to "save a lot of merchandise," which, given he had no insurance, would have been crucial to Greenwald being able to remain in business. Although the MCCH business survey taken from June to December 1935 did not record the store, a tailors store was visible at the address in the Tax Department photograph from 1939–1941.



The newspaper story was the only source to mention the looting of Greenwald's store. Of the four stores mentioned in the Daily News, only one appeared in any other source. Police made no arrests in this area until Leroy Brown was arrested two blocks to the north for urging people to follow his example and break store windows around 9:45 PM. At 10:10 PM, Officer Irwin Young arrested Leroy Gillard across the street on the same block for looting. Until then, not enough police appeared to have been deployed in the area to both protect stores and make arrests, so events like the attack on Greenwald's store were not part of the legal record.