By Gus Saltonstall
Broadway has long been the commercial heart of the Upper West Side, but a key stretch of the iconic avenue today has more storefront vacancies than it does blocks, according to a recent count by West Side Rag.
West Side Rag found 85 ground-floor storefronts standing empty on Broadway between West 59th and 110th Streets during the last week of August.
It means there are more than one-and-a-half vacancies per block – 1.6 to be exact – for the 51-block stretch of Broadway on the Upper West Side.
“There is no good reason for so many storefronts to sit empty and unused in the heart of the Upper West Side, one of the most visited neighborhoods throughout our city,” New York City Councilmember Shaun Abreu, whose district starts around 96th Street, told West Side Rag.
Abreu and other Upper West Side elected officials have worked to mitigate the number of vacant storefronts in the neighborhood and across the city for years, with then Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer spearheading the fight in 2019 with former neighborhood representative Helen Rosenthal, who served as the Upper West Side New York City Councilmember from 2014 through the end of 2021.
New York City politicians pushed to create a database that went live in 2021 to track the number of vacant storefronts in the city, which is supposed to show the lease status and other details of every ground-floor and second-floor commercial space in the five boroughs.
The vacant storefront database has had delays in updating its tallies, though, and more sensitive information such as the rent price has not been included.
Past counts of Upper West Side ground-floor business vacancies show that the blight unsurprisingly worsened during the COVID pandemic.
Along with the pandemic-related closures, a report by the Department of City Planning in 2019 pointed to rising rents, the ever-growing popularity of online shopping, lofty real-estate taxes, the increase of storefront space created during a construction boom from 2010 to 2018, and long-term economic disinvestment in certain neighborhoods within the five boroughs as reasons for the added vacancies.
85 vacancies on 51 Upper West Side blocks
Map of Upper West Side Broadway vacancies, click icons to get exact address. Created by Gus Saltonstall.
While previous studies have looked at different sections of Broadway, a look back suggests the problem is getting worse, not better. Earlier counts carried out by Patch and Brewer’s office show that the number of empty storefronts on Broadway from 68th to 98th went from 30 in 2017, to 47 vacancies in April of 2019, to 56 vacancies in May of 2022.
Similarly, Helen Rosenthal’s office in 2017 identified 57 vacancies on Broadway from West 62nd to 109th Streets, meaning that the recent 85 found by the West Side Rag from 59th to 110th streets show a major increase in the neighborhood over the six-year span.
Shuttered businesses are not just bad news for owners and their customers. The construction that follows as storefronts change hands can be a huge headache for neighboring stores, especially when scaffolding is involved.
A Blue Mercury retailer on Broadway between West 92nd and 93rd Streets has its entrance almost completely blocked off by a web-like collection of metal bars and poles.
The store sits directly next to the recently shuttered Perfecto Pizza and Telio.
“It’s definitely affecting business,” the store’s manager, who asked not to be named but did not specify why, told the West Side Rag about the chain reaction of the nearby closings. “We get less foot traffic because people can’t tell where the entrance is, and the mimosa crowd is also gone with the next-door restaurant of 30-plus years closing and the scaffolding going up.”
Efforts to solve the storefront vacancy issue
A variety of proposals have been introduced over the years in an effort to limit the number of vacant storefronts throughout New York City.
That effort has included elected officials pushing legislation that would create penalties for business owners that allowed their storefronts to sit vacant for extended amounts of time, and “mom-and-pop” rezonings, which limit the size of new storefronts in the hopes of protecting smaller businesses.
“To emerge from the pandemic stronger than before, we must make it easier for small businesses, restaurants, and stores to open up here and breathe new life into our communities,” Abreu told the West Side Rag.
Abreu, who worked as a tenant’s right lawyer before running for office, along with Brewer, are co-sponsors of a 2022 bill that would temporarily suspend commercial rent taxes. If the bill was successfully passed, it would provide relief for small-business owners by suspending the payment for three years.
Nonprofit organizations also look to be a part of the solution.
Both Brewer and Rosenthal have mentioned that stretches of the Upper West Side that didn’t have Business Improvement Districts (BID) seemed to struggle more to fill their storefronts.
A Business Improvement District is a geographical area where local stakeholders oversee and fund the maintenance, improvement, and promotion of their commercial district. It allows for certain areas to receive more funding and also have decisions be made by the residents who live throughout those blocks.
The elected officials pointed toward the work BIDs were able to do in partnership with the nonprofit Art on the Ave on Columbus Avenue in the neighborhood by using empty storefronts to display art and welcome in more new businesses.
The creation of more ground-floor residential space or reimagining the storefronts as childcare centers or community meeting places have been other solutions offered for commercial vacancies.
Spotlights of the Upper West Side 2023 count
Despite the worsening situation, there are signs of hope, with a number of Upper West Side stores slated to welcome new tenants in the near future.
The DSW at the corner of West 79th Street and Broadway will open as a P.C. Richard & Son. The shuttered Victoria’s Secret on the corner of West 84th Street and Broadway will welcome customers soon as Panera Bread. And a long string of adjacent, long-vacant storefronts on West 69th and Broadway is on its way to becoming a Morton Williams supermarket.
On the other hand, there are still larger vacant neighborhood storefronts that give the sense that the entire block has been somewhat abandoned.
The Marshall’s on the corner of West 78th and Broadway is recently empty, a Duane Reade between West 69th and 70th streets sits with no signage and a look of abandonment, and the shuttered Metro Theater still anchors West 100th Street and Broadway.
Here is a breakdown of the number of Upper West Side vacancies by 10-block groupings.
- 59th to 69th streets: 12
- 70th to 79th streets: 16
- 80th to 89th streets: 18
- 90th to 99th: 25
- 100th to 110th streets: 14
The southernmost section of the Upper West Side posting the least number of vacancies has to do with stretches of no commercial activity. Larger buildings such as Lincoln Center, Lincoln Plaza, Dante Park and the Columbus Circle-area take up large portions of the ten-block span.
Meanwhile, the 90th to 99th Street stretch has four different blocks with more than three vacancies on them, nearly double the average for the entirety of the Upper West Side.
The Broadway block between 92nd and 93rd streets has two vacancies on the west side of Broadway, and three vacancies on the east. The once bustling street has seen the closure of two restaurants, a Starbucks, a dry cleaner, and a vitamin shop in recent years.
Here are some of the other vacancy hot spots in the community.
- Four vacancies on Broadway between West 75th and 76th streets (both sides of the avenue.)
- Three vacancies on the west side of Broadway between West 76th and 77th streets.
- Three vacancies on the east side of Broadway between West 82nd and 83rd streets.
- Four vacancies between Broadway and West 93rd and 94th streets (both sides of the avenue.)
- Four vacancies between Broadway and West 98th to 99th streets (both sides of the avenue).
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A lot of good points in this article, but what is missing is the QOL (Quality of Life) problems plaguing the UWS. Marshalls, for example, is gone because of too many thefts. Random assaults and EDPs have also driven foot traffic away. With no penalties for the former or enforced hospitalization for the latter, these issues will continue to deter “mom and pop stores” and big box/chain stores/restaurants from opening and being able to stay in business. Bills/legislature will not solve the issue if the underlying QOL problems are not resolved first and foremost.
Marshall’s did not close due to theft. Marshall’s left the Broadway location because the escalator was always broken and the landlord refused to replace it. The landlord wanted them out and found a way to get them to leave. Marshall’s employees said the landlord wanted to get a higher rent paying tenant. Now it sits empty.
I wonder about rents and have heard of ridiculous numbers being asked for some empty stores. They wasn’t numbers that few businesses can sustain. I wonder if an annually increasing vacancy tax would induce them to ask more realistic rents and cut more deals. Then, maybe we address the filthy streets in front of some stores and restaurants, like the deli at 648 Amsterdam.
Please note that Marshall’s had to hire a private security guard for EVERY hour opened.
I spoke to the manager and he said they were having a terrible time with theft and here’s the kicker – their employees were frightened as the theives acted with impunity and threatened the employees too.
Is it fair that the employees have to be scared at work?
There’s actually not much evidence that shoplifting is causing widespread store closings. (See, for instance, Walgreen’s awkwardly walking back such claims: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/business/walgreens-shoplifting.html) Oversaturation (read back on this very blog for people complaining about a Duane Reade on every corner!), the shift to online shopping, and now remote work’s effect on foot traffic are much more powerful forces.
But that’s not as gratifying as getting to blame Those People, now is it?
I experienced gangs of young men sweeping through Marshalls and grabbing everything they could (especially handbags, wallets, and jewelry) on three separate occasions. It was very scary, and it definitely reduced my shopping frequency there.
Now multiply that by thousands of other customers experiencing the same thing and making the same choice.
This wasn’t “shoplifting” as we understand it, this was a raiding party. According to staff I spoke to, it happened many times a week. I’m surprised the store had anything left to sell.
Let’s not decriminalize crime, shall we. Thanks!
Sarah,
Spare me the baiting, please! When you say “Those People”, you make the assumption that I am dog whistling and I am not. The fact of the matter is there are people stealing from stores and while you may have an example of a company walking back on an inflated claim; this does NOT take away from those stores that HAVE closed. One store closing due to shoplifting is one too many. The fact that I need to ask someone to open a locked cabinet for deodorant or shampoo is a perfect example of what I am writing about. This is all about QOL issues and NOT who is committing the crimes; it is about the crimes being committed without repercussions and the stores cannot rely upon the police or the criminal justice system because both have been eroded to the point of non-existence.
As an asset manager who invests heavily in retailers, I can assure you your comment is factually inaccurate. I have been on many conference calls with high level CEOs who point to “shrink” as a major issue for them. You can reference one NYT article that WAG put out likely to save face, but I can point to multiple large retailers whose earning were severely impacted by shrink. If you don’t think it affects where businesses decide to close (or open), you just don’t live in the real world. One need only look at downtown San Fran.
Exactly what I was thinking. Big chains can somewhat withstand the serial and large-scale organized shoplifting better than the small stores. They add security personnel, spend money to put product behind locks, etc., It’s absolutely absurd that they have to do any of this at all, but this is where the city has devolved to under leadership that refuses to hold people accountable for their actions. Small mom and pops cannot withstand such an onslaught, however. I recently couldn’t get to the ice cream of all things in Target because it was locked up. I keep wondering when NYC will hit rock bottom so people will start making different voting decisions; apparently we aren’t there yet.
They voted in a cop. Literally.
And that cop does not have the authority to change bail laws, or prose ute criminals. Look at your progressive state legislators and progressive NYC DAs.
Prosecute and arrest are 2 different things. As a former retail worker for a huge big box retailer on 5th avenue, I can accurately state that when you call the cops due to theft, they either take forever to respond, don’t respond for days, or the best one…. come with a huge attitude because of the “bail laws” and state they’ll just be released. That does NOT mean they should stop doing their job. I’ve literally had NYPD walk a customer out in handcuffs give them a stern warning or taking to, and unhandcuff them infront of my store. Releasing them to do whatever theyd like next. Cops do whatever they want and cry about defending later.. There’s times where I couldn’t return something due to policy… but still took care of the customer, why?… Because you do what’s right. Theft has ALWAYS been a problem, it’s not a NYC thing, it’s not a democratic run city thing, it’s a societal issue where legit tax paying “former law abiding citizens” are now performing petty theft because they know they can get away with it. Yes bail laws etc are to blame but the cops are not doing the right thing either. Neither is the mayor who can easily tell the commissioner to lean into more arrests even if they’ll be released. People are just ready to throw their hands up on an issue so that bail reform can be thrown out instead of fixed/perfected. For the retailers closing because of “theft” …. let’s not forget none of them mentioned (Duane reads, walgreens, Marshalls, etc) are strapped for cash and CEOs are making millions of dollars paling in comparison to the shrink they report. Yes I fully understand shrink, how much a company takes on in losses, how much insurance companies reimburse them, etc, so I don’t need anyone spiel about the cost implications. These retailers look for any way to cut costs while giving out raises to those who don’t even deserve them, while closing stores and the foot soldiers go on unemployment. It’s a ridiculous cycle that needs to be looked at but moral of the story, let’s not say that theft is the reasoning for the decay… there’s a lot more going into play (zoning, buddies in high places withholding the ability for mom and pops to startup if it doesn’t fit the narrative/demographics, politics, etc) once we get the people that truly don’t care about NYC out we’ll be just fine.
In your disdain for the upper management or ownership of retailers, you neglect to address the disgust and fear of CUSTOMERS who don’t want to share the store with raiders. I wouldn’t do any in person shopping these days. It’s all available online or out in the burbs and so very safe. Pretty soon the insurers are going to say to urban retailers the same thing they say to those who live in forest fire or coastal areas. “Drop Dead”. We aren’t insuring you anymore. The recklessness of building homes in those areas is similar to keeping stores open in chaotic, ungovernable urban areas.
End tax incentives that provide write-offs and keep these spaces empty. Penalize owners for leaving their spaces open too long. Provide incentives to fill spaces with interesting/community oriented services such as spaces for artists. For owners and coop boards, having a full and vibrant ground floor raises value for the residences upstairs!
What if no one wants to rent? Landlords have to cover the note. If they can’t rent the space what are you going to do? Would you open a store there right now?
There is a penalty for leaving spaces vacant. It’s called property taxes; owners pay them regardless of occupancy and the property taxes increase every year regardless of occupancy.
There are no “tax incentives” and no “write offs” provided to landlords to keep their space empty.
Ranting ignorance nonsense is not helping the situation.
There are no tax incentives for keeping a vacant space. Other than not paying taxes on the rental income, which isn’t much of an incentive.
Mark, respectfully, that’s exactly what happens–if the market value tax write off is higher than renting at a rate a small business can afford, the space will sit empty. It reached a rate only large commercial chain stores can afford, then the market shifted to online shopping + 2020, and here we are. There’s a price per square foot that, say, a pizza spot just will never be able to afford with $3-$5 slices
A “market value tax write off” is what you get when you donate clothes to Housingworks. It’s not a thing in commercial real estate.
There is no such thing as a “market value tax write off”. Stop posting nonsense.
Small correction: the old DSW storefront is at 79th and Broadway, not 86th
fixed. thanks!
It would be interesting to learn whether the predominance of co-op rental space along this stretch has any effect on vacancy rates–that is, is a storefront more or less likely to be vacant if it’s ground-floor retail for a co-op?
Sarah,
My understanding is that many coops do not control the retail space – the real estate company “sponsor” controls the retail.
Condo residents have no control.
Rent is too damn high! Blame the mortgage holders on these buildings. Sold off as derivatives to thousands of shareholders. Can’t get owners permission to lower rent.
Taxes, taxes, taxes. Government bloat. We have a NYS-styled bloated city government, and I wouldn’t mind paying for it if it was effective. But all one has to do is look at the large screens in front of our faces in taxis, the insane implemtation of bike lanes, the random crime and electric bikes mowing people down left and right to know that we are not getting a bang for our buck. High taxes are the story for the kinds of small retail spaces that are empty. Little by little, because such things cannot happen quickly, people are leaving for better prospects and lower taxes. As for large retail spaces that have been empty for years, and there are many, including many around 67/68th and broadway and even down to where Best Buy was and of course the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas (literally a crime that that place has been empty now 5 years), the problem isn’t taxes, it’s the insanely high rents coupled with the fact that many of those buildings are owned by major corporations who can easily afford to have those spaces sit empty (REITS). And while I’m ranting, why is it that we have had such dismal choices for mayoral candidates?
There should be far more outcry over Lincoln Plaza Cinema. They have been having screenings in a series of makeshift locations while the actual theatre sits and rots for 5 years. Disgusting.
How do you expect stores to stay in business when Alvin Bragg practically invites shoplifting, I don’t mean shoplifting where someone puts a few things in their pocket. I’m talking people go in fills bags with merchandise tells staff see you tomorrow, and does this day after day because of no prosecution.
Agree. And how much of the consumer shift to online shopping is because of safety concerns about being in retail settings with potentially violent shoplifters?
For many of us”strollin’ up or down the avenue” has lost appeal, less because of vacancies, and more because of so much street trash, so few trash baskets, so many desperate people begging or falling apart., so many scooter and like vehicles going every which way, rats, etc. Every time I see pix of other cities, near and far, I don’’t see this. A failure in informed leadership?
It occurred to me standing at the fresh OJ machine at Monoprix ( the equivalent of Target) in Paris, just how much better life is outside NYC and the USA. Better food, better shopping, better transit, better culture, etc. The rest of the world is back. I spend a lot of time in Europe. London is thriving. Paris is back to normal. The streets are full of people. There are few to no vacancies. You can also walk the streets without fear. You can use public transit in the cities and high-speed rail to travel elsewhere. NYC by comparison is dying. We’re now going to see cuts in all our city services to pay for the “migrants”. This is a policy supported by the majority of the people on the UWS who think they’re doing something noble while actually destroying our city and in the long term our country. You can see it right in front of you but they will not acknowledge it. The contrast is even more evident when you actually travel. Taxes will continue to go up and people will continue to leave.
Took a march 2023 trip to Prague, Vienna and Berlin. All of them thriving with tourists, shoppers and NO FOR RENT SIGNS visible anywhere. I asked myself why, then asked the store workers. They didn’t close during Covid. The rebound in business is gratifying. Maybe our leaders got it all wrong?
Hard to argue. I have noticed it myself in Europe. The differences are stark when visiting a place like Paris where the city gives incentives to landlords to give book shops preferable rent because they are considered cultural assets.
In NYC The Strand could get turned into a huge 7-11 and no Municipal leaders would bat an eye.
NYC has been dying since Henry Hudson sailed North on the river now bearing his name and the Indians started getting abused and killed soon after. Yet, it is one of the few places on earth where people want to come to work hard believing their dreams can be realized with a higher chance of success.
NYC is still the place where ambitious, smart people come to get educated, build wealth, benefit from the serendipitous nature of connecting with like minded people and ultimately leave a mark.
I find those who travel twice a year outside of the US and find their destinations “much better than NYC” to suffer from a lack of intelligent perspective and myopic assessment of the confluence of factors benefiting their misconstrued opinion of a “decaying” NYC.
Have some decency!
Oh I miss the neighborhood Monoprix! I used to go to the one in the 13th.
New York City in general, and a segment of UWS-ers in particular are about to be hoisted on their own self-righteous petards with this ‘right to shelter’, ‘welcome, migrants’ nonsense.
And then to demand that the Feds pay for it? It’s like going out to dinner with a group of friends, ordering the most expensive items on the menu, and then expecting to split the bill evenly.
Well at least we have the bodegas, for now.
Interesting numbers, Gus, thanks. Sad to see how high they are above 86th St. I note that over on Columbus, the “Columbus Square” complex and discount alley between 96th and 100 is lively and doing good business. From Whole Foods, to Target, to Home Goods and Burlington – I have not been in the others (Sephora) but some of the issues folks mention about other closings (theft) don’t seem to have affected these places. Are they all surviving off whatever breaks incentivized them to open? Many of the stores have street level entries and then require customers to take an elevator or escalator down, which must discourage retail shoplifting. Of course chain stores aren’t the ones we miss most (although I miss Bed Bath and Beyond, Gracious Home, Lowe’s or any hardware store in the 70th street area!). I miss so many restaurants. Between the low office occupancy and the street level closings I think the city will need to hold its breath (and maybe tighten all our belts) for a few years.
People are not shopping in stores because they can get everything on-line and delivered to their door/mailbox with easy returns. The cost is usually cheaper too. Stores such as BBB, Gracious Home or hardware stores had been going out of business everywhere in the US even before COVID hit.
Your point cannot be overemphasized. In a perfect world, I would like to support local businesses, but the fact is, they can’t compete in convenience or in price of online merchants.. I’ve even stopped going to Home Depot because what I want is usually out of stock. Better just to order on Amazon with Amazon Prime delivery. Saves me money and angst.
The retail model, at least in Manhattan, is on it’s last legs and existed before COVID.
Change is inevitable.
I made this point in a prior thread….Anyone who tries to operate any form of business in NYC knows the costs are exorbitant. As an active member in our Co-op finances, I can tell you taxes , water etc are absolutely stepping on the necks of business owners. Rents aren’t high due (solely) to greedily landlords. If a building could get a profitable tenant to sign a long term lease, they most certainly would. …unfortunately this is a result of operating in a high tax, business unfriendly environment that is NYC…
Agreed. When the city decides to tax 40-50% of a property’s income and increase that property tax annually above-inflation, they establish a floor under rents.
Broadway has much more scaffolding than Columbus and it’s getting worse. Its ugly and obscures storefronts. If politicians want to do something they can change the needless facade law that leads to miles of scaffolds. No other city has all this scaffolding. The chances of getting hit by a car is 1000 times greater than a falling brick. Some perspective is needed on a perceived danger that is tiny.
Absolutely agree! And the bar for repair is getting lowered each year. Before, you would have to repair loose bricks / anything in danger of falling. Now, they are inspecting hairline cracks and digging behind bricks to find things to fix! It is a SCAM. And our new ground floor commercial art business tenant will have to help pay this as well.
Thanks so much for this. We need to somehow wrest retail back from Amazon.
“…..a report by the Department of City Planning in 2019 pointed to rising rents
That cow has left the barn…a while ago.
86-96 is a veritable wasteland now, and PC Richard moving to 79 will be one more vacancy in the area. So many highrises being built in the area doesn’t help–endless construction, scaffolding and sheds, and residents who are more likely to order from delivery companies than to shop from small local stores.
The situation may be more dire than this suggests, as many store fronts are now being used as delis/cbd shops by those hoping to expand to cannabis as those licenses roll out (something else NYC has done really poorly). How many of those shops do you need? They will continue to be illegal weed shops that the city will make a show of raiding every once and a while to shut people up or they will shut down.
The city also needs to address the length of time it takes to get building permits, inspections, and business-specific permits. Friend of a Farmer is opening a year late. The bagel shop on 72nd looks like no work has been done in a year. WSR might have better records, but it seems like a lot of the leases they get the scoop on take forever to actually become whatever was announced. This goes hand jn hand with the delayed inspections for scaffolding removal someone else mentioned. Something has to change at the DOB and whatever other agencies are involved with letting businesses open.
Yes the storefront situation is terrible and we need more FOOD stores in the 80s. Having siad that the UWS is the dog capital of NYC and the fact that there are no garbage cans and that 311 mocks complaints is astonishing. As someone who often takes her dog out in the middle of the night we went from 4 garbage cans to 1. Everyone I know has noticed this. It’s a REAL problem. Unsafe too and a real eyesore. Also I know the Zabar family owns so much real estate in the area. Look at the old Laytners and ask yourself is there anything as depressing as walking by that? How about a nice restaurant? That DSW would have been a great supermarket but Zabars owns the space. There are so many apartments in the 80s and almost no supermarkets. Is this a Zabar issue? Anyone know?
What happened to LAYTNERS?
Upper West Siders owe a lot to the Zabars. I wouldn’t go blaming them.
Stay strong, Barnes & Noble! This does make me sad since I remember a thriving shopping street from when I was a kid. These days if I get home late I usually take the 1 to 79 and walk to 83 and Columbus, and I feel much safer walking down the bustling Amsterdam Ave vs abandoned Broadway
Many stores that experience thefts of merchandise from open shelves (known as “shrinkage”) tend to make up for it by raising prices. So, it is the customers rather than the stores that suffer. We live near a CVS on West End and 70th Street that has had lots of such thefts. I haven’t checked prices over a period of time but I wonder if this is happening on the UWS. (This might be difficult to calculate because of higher prices associated with inflation.)
In addition to the other good ideas here, I hope our UWS representatives will advocate to give migrants work permits and incentives to work and/or start small businesses in the area.
Won’t increased labor supply drive down wages & increase income inequality?
Yes, it will. Good by to bargaining power.
But that’s really the point, right?
This is a sad commentary indeed.
The Metro theater has been vacant for decades! Unfortunately New York City doesn’t know how to make use of the space they do have. Everything is congested but if all these vacant storefronts were cleaned out and beautified, we would have a very different looking City. It’s not the representatives who are trying to beautify the city — it’s the locals who are planting in vacant lots and trying to bring some passion back in the city. Up in Hamilton heights, if you look at some of the brown stones, you’ll see where the locals have planted flowers outside and make charming little areas to walk by.
Blessings to those who try, one by one, to bring our city back to a place of peace, harmony, inclusivity, and charm.
An empty Metro Theater, yet the Center at West Park claims the ONLY place they can do their arts is the west park church.
We need taxes! What landlords don’t need are e hot Italy rents. We need commercial rent control. In the meantime laws thst if it sits vacant no tax deduction because clearly rent too high. Landlord recently kicked out the beloved and busy Lenny’s Bagels on Bway & 98th. This has been a major problem for over a decade. The politicians clearly don’t care.
The rental situation is likely to get worse. Banks which occupy large amounts of space are not going to renew expiring leases Pop and mom stores are literally dying.. They were a path upward for immigrants. Their children are professionals and not interested in continuing the business.. Of course city regulations are a burden.
————————
As to thievery at stores the situation is terrible.The Duane on 72nd has an armed policeman as security. A lot of merchandise is under lock and key, The pharmacy is behind plexy glass. .The shopping experience is just not enjoyable. Banks to avoid robberies are limiting hours to make ATM withdrawals. etc. etc.
The situation is unlikely to get better in the near future. and will lead to more empty spaces.
Meanwhile across Central Park on UES things are quite different. While you do have vacant retail space it’s nothing like UWS. In fact new retail seems to be opening every week on UES. Now why is that?
Strip out Madison avenue which is a whole other ball of wax UES from 59th to 86th or even 96th in spots from Lexington to Second avenues has less issues with ground floor retail vacancies than UWS.
When spaces of all sorts do become vacant they quickly are rented.
Space that formerly housed Lester’s on 80th and Second was barely cold before it was announced Goldfish Swimming school took one part. A new Chick-A-FilA took the other.
Where you do see vacant ground floor retail on UES it often is often where lots are being assembled for redevelopment.
Here’s another thing…
Residents, politicians and everyone else in NYC, UWS or whatever need to face the fact because it is a fact retail has changed. Genie that is online/internet is out of the bottle and is not going back in, period, never, forget it.
Thus for any retail to survive today, especially in HCODB place like NYC it has to be something cannot be found online cheaper. That or gives people a reason to go to a physical location instead of online.
City needs to reexamine zoning including requiring new construction build yet more ground floor retail.
Yes that new retail space replaces what was there previously, but it just adds to saturation. Often this new retail joins existing sitting empty. What is the good of that?
As a local small business owner right here, in the West 90’s on Broadway – thank you Gus for showing the numbers and thank you Great Scott and others who acknowledge the QUALITY OF LIFE (QOL) issues. I wish I could scream it from the top of the buildings. Your small local Mom and Pops on Broadway can’t take all the QOL problems that cost us business and customers every single day. It devastates us.
We work 12+ hours per day trying to make our stores beautiful, fun, full of quality service and instead I hear of people avoiding Broadway now due to the issues. Yes, there are all the other challenges of online shopping, Manhattan rents, and high taxes (which are just terrible) so to have Quality of Life issues on top of that every day makes it worse! Mentally ill coming in screaming at us, spitting in the door, throwing drinks at the window, people stealing, loitering in front of our windows and doors hassling people (this has ALL happened to me) – THIS is what hurts us. I know that we local store owners all are pondering that when our leases are up, we have to really look at things and say, “do I really want to stay here and work so hard when no one cares to make our Quality of Life environment better?” And please do not blame the police. We all have received tremendous help from them but they can only follow the laws that are allowing everything like this to happen.
Please, please. take me seriously. We want a lively fun Broadway to stroll down and shop and if we don’t change this Quality of Life environment, there WILL be more stores vacant.
Thank you for printing this and for reading this.
– a concerned local small business owner
To Concerned Business Owner:
Thank you.
Our family is committed to shopping local.
And we are not avoiding Broadway.
Lisa, tried to reply several times when the comments were not working yesterday.
Thank you!! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Is the P.C. Richard scheduled to open at 79th & Broadway a new branch of the store or is PCR simply moving from its current location at 87th & Broadway? If it’s a simple relocation, it would leave a yawning gap on that already struggling block and not reduce the number of empty storefronts.
BTW regarding crime….strange recent (9/10) Post article that several West Side bars/restaurants had been robbed by kids, about age 11?
Per Post, at several bars, kids had entered asking to use the bathroom – and then managed to steal money from unattended bags and open safes….
I am an UWS’er for 30 years and also in the financial services businesses, landlords don’t make money when their storefronts are empty, some have mortgages to pay so they cant reduce their own rent below a certain number. As an investor in retail I can assure you it is all about crime, shoplifting et,al. If NYC doesn’t want to prosecute then this wont get better. Leadership is horrible.
Thanks for the article. We have to create a new retail experience. Retail as we know it is dead. People crave convenience and e-commerce delivers. Several years ago, I spoke with Mark Miller, the co-owner of the popular Hex & Co game spaces, and he had some very interesting words to say about NYC retail and how it can be saved. I believe WSR published this video but here it is https://chrismingryan.com/blog/2023/9/13/why-are-there-so-many-empty-stores
Businesses have a lot of costs to cover. I found this super interesting how this restaurant owner calculates the investment. But truth is, global physical retail is transforming because of digital online shopping. NYC is still one of the favorites of retailers no doubt. Not UWS specifically , but NYC in a broad sense.
Someone should open a cafe/bar on Broadway that’s open late that people can work at during the day and then bring their friends at night for after-work drinks. My friends and I are all so desperate for somewhere open past 7pm. We don’t want to shop, we want to spend time with each other in an environment where we can work, study, or spend late nights chatting.
Cara,
There are multiple bars on the West Side open past 7.
But given rent, most food places can’t afford to have people just hang out – unless the people keep ordering food/drinks.
Also, in some respects there are too many food places already and they “cannibalize” each other.
But neighborhoods do need stores – ecommerce is a killer of communities.
Having lived in the 90’s & Broadway for the past 20 years, I’ve seen a dramatic change in the shops along Bdwy. There was once Murder Inc books store, a real old fashioned Chinese laundry, florist, multiple dry cleaners, hardware and housewares and a variety of restaurants. All gone. More smoke shops (illegal selling of cannabis), restaurants replaced by casual fast food. In order to maintain a neighborhood vibrancy, a variety of stores are needed. We need a place to gather, talk, have a drink, a bite to eat. Don’t need a Chipotle. Think the loss of Cleopatra’s Needle and Talieo was more painful than initially thought . Full service restaurants do more than you think – more foot traffic, later at night, all makes a safer neighborhood.
How can you pay 20k to 40k rent on a small shop? Lol Lenny’s bagels on 98th shut down because the landlord(llc) wanted to raise the rent, Regional(Italian restaurant) next door was also shut down because they just couldn’t make enough money to pay the rent, I personally wanted to open a business in the neighborhood I live in but I cannot literally risk my life on a loan when you have to set aside like 1000$ a day just for rent, just think about that.
My family’s candy store (Manny’s, 50s through 70s) use to be where Regional was. 2609 Broadway. How’s the health food store doing that’s right there?
Up until 7 or so years ago I always used to clothes shop down Broadway. Slowly they all closed and sit empty – and no I don’t buy clothes online. I like to try them on first. It’s a wasteland now.
Does all this cause any of you to reflect on your political choices?
Our city is not what it used to be. Yesterday in one small area of Broadway I had what has become an all too typical New York experience. I went into a drug store on Broadway and 77-78 and while looking for some dental products, a disheveled looking young man walks right by me with a shopping cart and in it is an empty suitcase and a duffle bag. He looks tense. Store employees were aware he was about to try and take a cache of merchandise. They look tense. They’re converging in the area where he’s headed. They’re talking to each other on phones. Seeing this with your own eyes is eery. I approach another store employee and ask why they don’t call 911. I get a blank stare. I leave the store thinking this just doesn’t make sense. I’m relieved to be out of there.
Maybe 2 minutes later I’m crossing at the east side of Broadway to the west side at 76th Street and I’ve got the light. As I’m crossing I see a bicyclist (an adult) riding down the wrong side of Broadway-south in the northbound lane and he’s coming right at me. I jump back while he rides through the red light and misses me but not by much. Because I’m looking at him coming the wrong way down the street and toward me, I miss the moped speeding through the red light coming at me from the other direction!! He misses me as I swing back by very little. I’m about to cross onto the small plaza in the center of Broadway where people are sitting having seen the whole thing. Someone asks if I’m alright. I say yes and keep going.
I’m wondering if it’s worth shopping on Broadway. I get on a 104 bus and while trying to get a seat I must negotiate with a guy who has rolls of paper towels strewn all over 2 seats that are falling onto the floor blocking the aisle. He’s acting erratically. He’s trying to put the towels into a very large duffle bag inside a shopping cart. He has maybe 12 extra large rolls of paper towels that are now in the cart blocking the back door. Everyone is climbing around his cart when they get off the bus. I can only wonder if that was the day’s catch from another local drug store. It’s just not what someone who’d purchased them would be doing.
We can’t overlook or deny what is happening to our community and the bizarre lack of accountability for it all. The lack of regulation and enforcement of the explosion of bikes and mopeds on our streets and sidewalks that don’t obey traffic laws and routinely endanger the lives of pedestrians. And then the complete lack of action by the NYPD in the incredible waves of theft where minimum wage store clerks are acting like superheroes.
Who wants to shop in stores when these things are so commonplace? Of course this is only one aspect of why so many empty storefronts dot the cityscape. But it just might not help that there’s the inescapable knowledge that it sure seems like no one’s minding the store.
It is no longer pleasant to shop on Broadway because it is no longer pleasant to walk on Broadway because Broadway has far too many homeless, mentally ill, loud ppl, deliveristas both working and parking at the median and corners, too many food trucks, scaffolds, construction and traffic. In order to be a successful business corridor, a human must take pleasure in being and walking on the avenue. But there’s no great sites and just a lot of pity to walk around.
P.C. Richards & Sons is taking over the DSW space, but it’s going to leave a large vacancy in its current location on 87th and Broadway, so it’s not really a gain for the neighborhood.
As a 3rd generation retailer, I opened a store on Columbus Ave 41 years ago. It’s still in business, but with different owners. I transitioned to retail real estate 31 years ago and have closed hundreds of deals. All retail is challenged because (1) profits are siphoned off by e-commerce, (2) landlords have a warped idea of what rents should be now that real estate isn’t the beginning and the end for retail any more, (3) consumers don’t have the expendable income they once had, (4) salaries and other expenses weigh heavily on profit margins, (5) most all merchandise has been reduced to a commodity sold based on price, (6) there’s nothing unique being sold, (7) UWS customers lack fashion sense, and are basically boring residents and not fashion-conscious, (8) the makeup of the consumer population is stodgy, (9) they aren’t fine diners, and (10) chains offer nothing to excite shoppers. Whereas areas that have trendy stores attract trendy shoppers. What is trendy about the UWS? Oh, and I lived on the UWS for decades. Please don’t think the UES is doing much better.
As someone who just moved to the UWS, my number one reason was to get away from retail and live in a more “residential” neighborhood like I had in Queens next to parks but with the convenience of an easy commute directly to places in Manhattan. The most unique stores I see on the UWS are the “pet stores” concepts like Canine Styles, Black Lab Cafe, Just Food for Dogs. In a broad sense, UWS has the walkable vibe potential of west village but full of families and older residents who have tight budgets. I see the popularity of cafes near schools and can imagine teens wanting more places to hang and spend their parents money. I desperately want to see Korean grub food. WHY is there so much sushi on every block but zero Korean?
Thank you for such a thoughtful comment