Major Chains Are Closing Their NYC Locations - Is the Big Apple Dying?

It’s been a big debate - is New York City dying?

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld and author James Altucher have been arguing in the media and on Twitter for months over this question.

Seinfeld says NYC will never die, and Altucher says it already has. Altucher might be right.

New York City now has a record one in seven nationally recognized chain-store branches closing their doors this year. The fear of coronavirus and the ensuing lockdowns definitely didn’t help sales in the city.

A total of 1,132 chain stores — including 54 Starbucks, 70 Duane Reades, and 22 Papyruses — all shut their doors for good over the past 12 months. This data comes from the Center for an Urban Future’s annual “State of the Chains” report.

This massive 14.2 percent is much higher than any previous record reported by the nonprofit agency. They have tracked data like this for 13 years ago. Last year, for example, just 3.7 percent of all chain outlets closed. Seinfeld might say the huge number is only because 2020 is such an outlier, but even 2019’s number is a massive jump up from 0.3 percent in 2018. High rents are definitely moving people out of the city, and the lockdowns might have sealed the deal.

420,000 people, according to smartphone data acquired by the New York Times—left the city between March 1 and May 1 alone. Who knows how many will come back, and how many more left.

“If the national chains are scaling back like this, I have to imagine it’s twice as bad for mom-and-pop stores, who don’t have the same ability to weather a storm or get access to ­financing,” said the Center for an Urban Future’s executive director, Jonathan Bowles.

Dunkin Donuts lost a record 28 stores, Subway shut down 48 locations, and every single one of the city’s 21 SoulCycles is closed for good.

GNC also shut 51 of their 99 locations.

There is some good news for the city though — Popeyes added 10 new locations.

It just goes to show, no matter what’s going on, people still want their fried chicken!

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