Three dollars and 25 cents won’t buy you a lot in today’s marketplace, but try to imagine what it might mean if you were a business owner in Oakland’s Chinatown, and you had to bump wages by that much for every hour worked.

Since Oakland officially raised the minimum wage in March, some business leaders in Chinatown say it's been particularly tough on businesses in their neighborhood. According to the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, four restaurants and six grocery stores have shut their doors in the past three months, and others are considering moving out with the neighborhood facing the pressure of rising rents and new development.

That means it’s more important than ever for advocates who supported the increase, like Timmy Lu, the Civic Engagement Coordinator for the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, to check in on business owners to see how they’re doing. When we met on a cloudy afternoon in Oakland, Lu was on his way to Café Gabriella, a sandwich shop on 10th and Broadway, on the edge of the neighborhood.

Even though Lu supported Measure FF, the ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage approved by Oakland voters last November, he understands the pressures on businesses. Lu grew up helping his parents in their cafe.

“I was a 'restaurant rat' growing up,” Lu remembers. “I knew how challenging it was. To pin all of these challenges on a single policy masks the challenges that a small business owner has on a day-in and day-out basis.”

In order to make sure businesses are compliant, Lu believes the city needs to be more aggressive in enforcing the minimum wage law. But Lu still thinks businesses will stay in town.

“Chinatown has a tremendous amount of foot traffic going through it,” Lu explains. “That’s not replicable in other cities.”

Just as he finishes talking, Lu motions to a small storefront with a green awning. The lunch crowd has left Café Gabriella but there are still a couple of diners sipping espressos outside.

Owner Penny Balgado, who started this café five years ago, proved a strong supporter of Measure FF. Café Gabriella had to boost prices to keep up with the minimum wage.

“I feel like when people are happy to work at a certain place, it reflects on the customers,” Balgado said. “It reflects on the food and the product, and it reflects on the bottom and the triple bottom line.”

But the bottom line has never been easy to maintain in Chinatown. Businesses in the neighborhood have long operated on a shoestring, owing to a history of redlining and discrimination from lenders.

Minimum wage advocates insist that the new law isn’t an effort to clamp down on diverse businesses. But local realtor Carl Chan, who’s a member of the Board of Directors on Chinatown’s Chamber of Commerce, sees those impacts differently. He’s advocating for gradual increases in the minimum wage.

“I would like to see a regional minimum wage increase,” Chan explained. “So it’s not going to be locally, but regionally, well planned, and possibly with some exemptions for small businesses.”

Chan walked me over to see some of the businesses that have failed since the minimum wage went into effect. Sam Yick Market, on 8th Street was one. Chan says it’s not unusual for businesses like this one to shutter in Chinatown, but they often return quickly.

“We’ve had businesses close. But just a matter of days and they reopen,” Chan said. “The major difference is that the cost of doing business is so expensive and financing is not available.”

Legendary Palace, a two-story banquet hall on 7th and Franklin Streets, on a prime corner in Chinatown, also didn’t make it. In media reports, an attorney for the owners confirmed the increased minimum wage was one factor that drove the business toward closing, and could discourage other businesses from coming to the neighborhood. For Chan, the personal element is the worst part.

“Well it’s just like, this community is a big family,” he says. “We lost a family member. So it is pretty sad.”

It may be sad for this community. But it’s also a sign that businesses may have to make change in order to survive.