Dunkin' Donuts along Court Street in Brooklyn.
The Center for the Urban Future Our released their second annual ranking of national retailers in New York Cit. The report found that over 30 percent of the retailers from last year’s report actually expanded their presence in the city in the past year, despite the sour economy.
Dunkin’ Donuts tops the list for the second straight year, with a staggering 429 stores. The list includes a breakdown of 277 national retailers that have two or more stores in NYC, broken down by every borough and zip code.
For the complete report: Return of the Chains
Brooklyn’s all chained up. (from New York Daily News)
Dunkin’ Donuts leads a pack of national retail chains that have added new stores across the borough in the last year despite the bad economy – opening 12 stores to bring its total in Brooklyn to 101, a recent survey has found.
“It’s hard to fathom that Brooklyn has more than 100 Dunkin’ Donuts,” said Center for the Urban Future Director Jonathan Bowles. “You pretty much can’t go to a subway stop in Brooklyn without running into one.”
Flatlands, with its megamall Kings Plaza, and Brooklyn Heights are the neighborhoods most heavily concentrated with chains, with 132 and 124 stores respectively.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard has no national chains and Fort Hamilton only has two.
Some national chains with Brooklyn outlets were unable to weather the slump. Bankruptcy took three Circuit City stores out of Brooklyn, in addition to two Levitz stores and one KB Toys.
Brooklyn hosts 1,256 national retail chains and leads the city in Payless Shoe Stores with 36 and GameStop video game stores – up from 16 last year to 20 this year.
Brooklyn is also king of fast food restaurants: Golden Krust opened one more store last year to bring its total to 28; Popeye’s now has two more outlets for a total of 21, and Domino’s Pizza added another parlor and now sells pies at 20 stores.
McDonald’s now has 59 restaurants boroughwide after adding two new spots since July 2008. Subway has added four, bringing its total to 61.
“I’m happy to see it,” said Crown Heights resident Reggie Myers, 53, as he left a McDonald’s on Court St. with a $5 lunch of a burger, fries and a drink. “I hunt for the bargains and I’ve noticed retailers lowering their prices.”
Other Brooklynites said they were faithful to national chains because of low prices, convenience and, well, out of habit.
“I came here as a kid with my father so I’m just following in his footsteps,” said Clinton Hill doorman Christopher Alvarez, 19, as he left a Dunkin’ Donuts with an iced coffee and a donut.
Still, the expansion of retail outlets worried small independent business owners, who are often squeezed when the chains make their mark.
“It’s hard for the mom-and-pop places,” said Chris Jackson, 36, co-owner of Ted and Honey, a year-old coffee and sandwich place in Cobble Hill, just blocks from a Starbucks.
“As an independent business owner, you don’t have the resources and the knowledge like they do,” said Jackson. “When you have a franchise chain, you just open the manual, but it’s extremely difficult for us. There’s a hurdle every day.”
