The Upper West Side, Soon To Be A Chain Store Wasteland?

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Photo of a new UWS Starbucks via HuntGrunt

It's no secret that small businesses are feeling the pinch of rising rents all over Manhattan. But while changes on the Bowery and on Bleecker Street make news, there's also a lot of turnover quietly happening in what used to be a pretty staid neighborhood: the Upper West Side. Crain's:

Embassy [Florists] is one of some 20 stores that have shut down on Broadway between West 72nd and West 93rd streets in the last few months. All were victims of rising rents. Institutions such as Morris Bros. department store, book seller Murder Ink and Westend Coffee are only memories now as landlords push them out in hopes of landing national retail chains willing pay double or triple the rent.

According to the piece, American Eagle Outfitters is searching for a space in the area, and a Le Pain Quotidien will open on Broadway between 91st and 92nd Streets soon. Banks and Starbucks are taking up many of the empty storefronts as well. A neighborhood losing the majority of its local businesses, only to see them replaced by chains: sadly commonplace these days.
· Stores priced out on Upper W. Side [Crain's]