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Our seventeenth annual ranking of over 450 national retailers in New York City finds a 1.3 percent decrease in chain stores across the five boroughs over the past year. This is the fifth time in the past seven years that there has been a net decline in the overall number of chain stores, suggesting that the environment for many national retailers remains challenging even as many of the city’s commercial districts have seen a strong recovery in storefronts.
Continuing a trend from the past several years, national retailers selling merchandise—pharmaceutical products, cell phones, clothing, shoes, cosmetics, and vitamins—had the biggest year-over-year store declines, a clear impact of growing competition from e-commerce. But this year’s pullback in chain stores was broad-based, with many food retailers also reducing their store footprint and all five boroughs registering a net decline in chains. Overall, many more retailers had a net reduction in store locations (130) than had a net store gain (94). (229 retailers registered no change in stores.)
While a wide range of retailers have been closing stores, the city’s largest chains have struggled the most. Indeed, 10 of the 15 largest chains from 2023 had fewer store locations in 2024, with those 10 big retailers closing a combined 111 stores over the past year. In total, this report finds a net decline of 109 chain stores since last year, from 8,148 to 8,039 stores—less than the decline among the 10 big retailers that posted store reductions.
The struggles of New York’s largest retailers have been apparent since the start of the pandemic. The 13 largest retailers tracked in the State of the Chains report published by the Center for an Urban Future in December 2019 have a combined 797 fewer store locations in the city today than in 2019—an average loss of 61 stores. All 13 of the largest chains from that pre-pandemic report have fewer store locations today, but a handful of retailers stand out for their store losses, including:
In addition to the 13 largest retailers, several other large chains significantly reduced their footprint in the city. Sprint, the #17 store from 2019, has 89 fewer stores in the city than before the pandemic; GNC (#16 from 2019) has 58 fewer; New York Sports Club (#29 from 2019) has 37 fewer; Mattress Firm (#22 from 2019) has 24 fewer; GameStop (#24 from 2019) has 20 fewer.
Despite these notable chain pullbacks, the city’s retail environment today is far from bleak. Nearly 100 retailers registered a net gain in store locations over the past year, and 45 expanded by at least two stores. The bulk of the growth was among food retailers; indeed, 30 of the 45 chains that added at least two stores sell food and beverages. In total, food retailers grew 1.6 percent over the past year, from 3,974 locations in 2023 to 4,036 in 2024 (+62 stores). This year, for the first time, food chains make up more than half of all the chain stores in our report: 4,036 out of 8,039.
The food chains expanding the most over the past year include fast food and fast casual restaurants, açaí bowl shops, chains selling desserts/ice cream, and coffee shops. Chains with notable store increases include:
It wasn’t only restaurants, bakeries, and coffee shops expanding. Other retailers with notable growth over the past year include:
Nearly a third of the retailers tracked in this report (130 in all) registered a net decline in stores over the past year, with cell phone stores and pharmacies suffering the biggest losses. Metro by T-Mobile (formerly known as MetroPCS) registered a net loss of 30 stores (going from 269 stores to 239) while T-Mobile had a net decline of 15 stores (from 171 to 156). Meanwhile, Duane Reade shuttered 22 stores (reducing its footprint from 211 to 189), CVS had a net decline of 10 stores (from 170 to 160), and Rite Aid reduced its footprint by 8 stores (from 54 to 46).
This is the sixth consecutive year in which merchandise retailers accounted for an outsized share of the city’s chain store declines, a clear result of the growing competition from e-commerce. Apart from cell phone stores and pharmacies, several other merchandise retailers—particularly those selling vitamins and food supplements, and clothing and accessories—shuttered multiple stores over the past year, including:
However, it was not only merchandise retailers closing stores over the past year. Many food chains did as well, including:
Every borough experienced a decline in chain stores over the past year. Manhattan had the largest percentage decline (-1.8 percent, or a net loss of 56 stores). Brooklyn had the second-largest reduction in chain stores (-1.5 percent, or a net loss of 27 stores), followed by Queens (-1 percent, or a net loss of 17 stores), Staten Island (-1 percent, or a net loss of 5 stores) and the Bronx (-0.4 percent, or a net loss of 4 stores).
Dunkin’, with 626 stores, is again the retailer with the most stores in the five boroughs, a title it has held all seventeen years since we started tracking chain store trends in New York. In 2008, the first year that this report was published, Dunkin’ had just six more stores than the second-place chain (Subway). Today, Dunkin’ has nearly 300 more stores than the number two retailer in the city, Starbucks, which boasts 328 store locations. This year, Dunkin’ registered a net growth of 7 stores and still has fewer store locations than it did before the pandemic (626 today compared to 636 in 2019).
For the third year in a row, Starbucks has the second-most chain stores in New York. Over the past year, Starbucks had a net increase of six stores, from 322 to 328. Although Starbucks still has fewer locations than it did pre-pandemic (351 in 2019), the coffee chain moved into second position on our list in 2021 by surpassing Metro by T-Mobile and has continued to increase its lead. This year, Metro by T-Mobile remains in third place with 239 locations, experiencing a 30-store reduction from 269 to 239.
The other retailers in the top ten include Subway (which now has 202 stores after registering a decline of 13 stores since 2023); Duane Reade (189 stores, -22); McDonald’s (188 stores, +3); Baskin-Robbins (181 stores, -2), CVS (160 stores, -10); Popeye’s (157 stores, +13); and T-Mobile (156 stores, -15).
Over the past year, 94 chains had a net gain in store locations, 130 had a net decline, and 229 registered no change in stores.
Many national retailers in the city are still well below their pre-pandemic store levels. The number of chain stores in the city in November 2024 was 15.4 percent below the total from late 2019—or 1,225 fewer stores than before the pandemic. More than half the retailers that were featured in our 2019 State of the Chains report have fewer locations today than they did before the pandemic, including 11.2 percent that no longer have any stores here.
This year’s State of the Chains report includes data on 48 retailers that we did not track in previous years, our attempt to keep pace with the changing retail landscape across the five boroughs. The retailers added this year include food retailers such as Nan Xiang Express, Serafina, taim, Raising Cane’s, and Levain Bakery, grocers such as CTown Supermarkets, Ideal Food Basket, and NetCost Market, as well as merchandise retailers such as Madrag, JD Sports, Primark, and Buck Mason. (We added these 48 retailers last year, but this year’s report is the first time we have been able to track year-over-year trends for them.)
For next year’s report, we have added an additional 66 chains (which we will begin to measure in 2025).
A majority of national retailers on our list still have fewer store locations than in 2019. Some of the notable contractions since the pandemic include:
Several national retailers have bucked the larger trends and added a significant number of stores since 2019, including:
Starbucks has more stores in Manhattan than any other national retailer, with 192 total locations. In all other boroughs, Dunkin’ is the top retailer with 196 locations in Queens, 133 locations in Brooklyn, 91 locations in the Bronx, and 39 locations on Staten Island. Manhattan’s three biggest retailers are: Starbucks, Dunkin’, and Duane Reade. The top three chain retailers in Brooklyn are Dunkin’, Metro by T-Mobile, and Starbucks. In Queens, the top three retailers are: Dunkin’, Baskin-Robbins, and Metro by T-Mobile. The top three retailers in the Bronx are Dunkin’, Metro by T-Mobile, and McDonald’s. Finally, Staten Island’s top three are: Dunkin’, CVS, and Starbucks.
Over the past year, 92 of the city’s zip codes experienced a decline in chain stores, while 56 zip codes saw growth. Another 70 zip codes had no change in stores. The neighborhoods with the biggest net decline in chain stores over the past year include:
The zip codes with the most chain stores in the city are:
The zip code that experienced the largest increase in chain stores was 10001 (Garment District/Koreatown), where six stores (+2.8 percent) were added in 2024. Other zip codes to add the most stores over the past year were: 10065 (Upper East Side, +5 stores), 11101(Long Island City, +4 stores), 11432 (Jamaica, +4 stores), 11378 (Maspeth, +4 stores), 10119 (Garment District/Koreatown, +4 stores), 10031 (Washington Heights, +3 stores), and 11414 (Howard Beach, +3 stores).
Of all national retailer locations in New York City, 38.7 percent are located within Manhattan. Brooklyn ranks second with 21.9 percent, followed by Queens which has 21.8 percent of total chain stores. The Bronx holds 11.6 percent and 6 percent are in Staten Island.
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