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The ninth annual ranking of national retailers in New York City by the Center for an Urban Future (CUF) shows a 1.2 percent increase in the number of store locations over last year, an uptick from the 1 percent gain between 2014 and 2015.1 This is the eighth consecutive year with a net increase in national chain stores in the five boroughs.
CUF’s analysis shows that the 303 retailers listed in last year’s ranking expanded their footprint in New York City by 89 store locations, growing from a total of 7,154 stores in 2015 to 7,243 stores in 2016—an increase of 1.2 percent. Chains gained locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, while reducing their presence in Manhattan.
For the eighth consecutive year, Dunkin Donuts tops our list as the largest national retailer in New York City, with a total of 596 stores, a net increase of 24 stores in 2015. Subway is still the second largest national retailer in the city with 433 stores, but it has 12 fewer locations than last year. Rounding out the top ten national retailers in New York are MetroPCS (with 326 stores), Starbucks (317), Duane Reade / Walgreens (303), T-Mobile (223), Baskin-Robbins and McDonald's (217 each), Rite Aid (185), and CVS (153).2 There are 12 retailers with more than 100 stores across the city, down from 13 last year. Walgreens Boots Alliance, which owns both the Walgreens and Duane Reade pharmacy chains, is seeking approval of its acquisition of Rite Aid. The combined company would likely become the second-largest national retailer in the city.
Only one out of every five national retailers on this year’s list increased their footprint in the city by at least one store over the past year, compared to one out of three last year. About a third closed locations in the past year, and the remaining third held the same number of stores as last year. Eleven national retailers closed all of their New York City locations since last year:
Although Manhattan still has more national retailer store locations than the other boroughs, the number of locations fell 0.9 percent in the past year from 2,739 locations in 2015 to 2,715 this year.
The other boroughs all registered a net increase in 2016. The Bronx saw the biggest percentage increase in the number of chain store locations, growing 4.2 percent from 857 locations in 2015 to 893 locations in 2016. On Staten Island the number of locations increased 3.7 percent (from 406 locations in 2015 to 421 locations in 2016), in Brooklyn the number increased 2.3 percent (from 1,509 to 1,544 locations), and in Queens the number increased 1.6 percent (from 1,643 to 1,670).
Starbucks has more stores in Manhattan than any other national retailer, with 223 locations. In each of the other boroughs, Dunkin Donuts tops the list—it has 179 stores in Queens, 157 in Manhattan, 138 in Brooklyn, 85 in the Bronx, and 37 on Staten Island.
The following retailers experienced significant store growth over the past year:
The following retailers downsized significantly over the past year, but still have a presence in the city:
Our report also charts retailer trends within the boroughs. We discovered several interesting trends this year:
Every year, we add new national retailers to our ranking. This year, we added nine new retailers:
This year the 10314 zip code, home to the Staten Island Mall, took the top place for highest number of national retailer locations at 183, up from 176 last year. Manhattan’s 10001 zip code in Midtown/Koreatown that is home to the Manhattan Mall and the Herald Square shopping areas has the second highest number of locations at 169, down from 172 last year; it is followed by 10003 in Manhattan’s East Village (161 locations). Zip code 11201 in Brooklyn Heights / Downtown Brooklyn has the largest number of national retailer locations in that borough at 139; zip code 11234, home to Kings Plaza Shopping Center in Flatlands, is a close second at 133 locations. In Queens, zip code 11373 in Corona/Elmhurst, home to the Queens Center Mall, has the highest number of chain stores in that borough (129). In the Bronx, zip code 10475 in Baychester / Co-op City has the highest number of chain stores of any zip code in that borough (86).
Increases in retailer locations by zip code were modest this year. The biggest increase was in the 10475 zip code in Baychester / Co-op City in the Bronx, which saw an increase of nine locations, followed by seven-location increases in 10018 (Manhattan Midtown West), 10314 (New Springville, Staten Island), 10451 (High Bridge / Morrisania in the Bronx), 11372 (Jackson Heights, Queens), 11212 (Brownsville, Brooklyn), and 11430 (JFK Airport).
Manhattan still has the largest number share of national retailer locations in the city at 37 percent of all locations, followed by Queens at 23 percent, Brooklyn at 21 percent, the Bronx at 12 percent, and Staten Island at 6 percent. Manhattan also has the highest concentration of chain stores at 115 locations per square mile. The remaining boroughs have significantly fewer chain stores per square mile: Brooklyn (35), Queens (15), the Bronx (11), and Staten Island (7). Overall there are 24 chain stores per square mile and 1,181 New York City residents for every chain store location in the city.
The remainder of this report details a comprehensive ranking of national chains in New York City by their number of store locations, the number of store locations in each zip code, zip codes with the most and least number of chains, and zip codes with the most and least number of chains by borough.
Download the full report.
1 CUF defines a “national retailer” as one that has at least two locations in New York City and at least one location outside the city limits.
2 The data for this report was compiled in July 2016.
3 Dollar Tree acquired the Deals chain in 2006, but only rebranded the locations at the beginning of 2016.
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