Queens loses nearly 200 chain stores, third largest decline in NYC
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Queens saw an 11 percent drop in
chain store locations in 2020, the third
largest drop out of all the five boroughs.
The Center for an Urban Future’s 13th
annual State of the Chains report found
more than 1,000 chain stores across New
York City closed either temporarily or
permanently over the past year, or nearly
one in every seven locations that were
open at this time last year.
In Queens, 198 chain stores shut their
doors over the past year.
The report shows several Queens
ZIP codes lost at least a fifth of the chain
stores that were open at this time last
year, including the following:
• JFK Airport, Jamaica (11430): 28 percent
decrease (from 40 to 29 stores)
• Astoria (11102): 27 percent decrease (from
15 to 11 stores)
• Springfield Gardens (11413): 26 percent
decrease (from 31 to 23 stores)
• Flushing (11357): 24 percent decrease
(from 25 to 19 stores)
• Maspeth (11378): 24 percent decrease
(from 17 to 13 stores)
• Bayside (11360): 23 percent decrease
(from 31 to 24 stores)
• Far Rockaway (11691): 22 percent decrease
(from 18 to 14 stores)
• Flushing (11358): 21 percent decrease
(from 24 to 19 stores)
• Flushing (11355): 20 percent decrease
(from 25 to 20 stores)
Twenty retailers experienced a
net decline of at least three stores in
Queens during the past year, including
Metro PCS (with a net decline of
41 stores), Sprint (23), GNC (13), Duane
Reade (10), Modell’s (10), CVS (9), Subway
(8), Rite Aid (8), Golden Krust (5),
Baskin-Robbins (5), M·A·C Cosmetics
(5), New York & Co. (5), Au Bon Pain
(4), Burger King (4), Dunkin’ (4), Starbucks
(4), Victoria’s Secret (3), Tumi
(3), AT&T (3) and Mattress Firm (3).
The report found the number of
chain stores in the city declined by 13
percent over the last year, with 2 percent
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closing temporarily and 11 percent
not indicating whether closures
were permanent.
“This is by far the largest yearover
year decline in chain stores
since the Center for an Urban Future
began our annual analysis of the
city’s national retailers 13 years ago,
eclipsing last year’s 3.7 percent drop
and the 0.3 percent decline in 2018,”
the Center wrote in their report.
This is also the first time the Center
includes a “temporary” category,
which they attribute to the fact that
retailers may be awaiting a COVID-19
vaccine or a better economic climate.
For most chains, store closings
were a direct result of the COVID-19
pandemic — but a combination of the
pandemic and e-commerce prompted
many merchandise retailers to close a
significant share of their stores.
Every borough experienced a decline
of at least 8 percent in the number
of chain store locations, with
Manhattan accounting for nearly
half of the chain stores closing as
more than one in six chains (a 17 percent
drop), followed by Brooklyn with
11.6, Queens with 11.2, the Bronx with
9 percent and Staten Island with 8.5
percent.
It’s the second consecutive year in
which all five boroughs registered declines,
but the first year for any borough
to see a decline of more than 10
percent. Last year, the sharpest drop
was a 4.9 percent decline in Queens,
with 91 stores shuttered, according to
the Center.
Earlier in 2020, Century 21’s multiple
location closures, including its
only Queens location in Rego Park
Center, came as a blow to New Yorkers.
The pandemic also caused IKEA
to postpone its opening, which was
originally set for the summer, with a
new date still to be determined.
However, some new chain store locations
did open in 2020, such as Burlington
in Long Island City.
Queens saw a slower growth rate in retail chains this year, according to a report by
the Center for an Urban Future. Photo courtesy of Flickr/Mike Mozart
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