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Have you ever walked by one national chain store, rounded the corner only to see another branch, and wondered to yourself, Just how many of these stores are there in New York City? The Center for an Urban Future is here to solve that for you—and in short, the answer is most pretty much a lot of 'em.
Their most recent State of the Chains report noted that national retailers accounted for 7,541 stores across all five boroughs, a 3.3% increase since 2013. And those who like their iced coffee with an orange straw instead of a green one will be pleased to know that there are 536 Dunkin Donuts locations in New York, almost twice as many as Starbucks's 282.
It's the seventh year in a row that the donut emporium has held that distinction, and they further cemented it by adding 21 more doors in the past year.
Overall, it was Queens who saw the biggest percentage increase in chain stores this year, adding another 8.3% to bring them up to 1,801 chain locations (last year, it was Brooklyn. Sign of the times?). In fact, every other borough added more chain stores than they lost last year, save for Staten Island holding steady at 425 doors.
However, the zip code that's home to the Staten Island Mall is tied for the highest concentration of chain stores at 180 doors. It shares that distinction with 10001, home to the Manhattan Mall. The next highest? 10003, which encompasses part of the East Village and Union Square, has 164 doors. And overall, Manhattan has 37% of the city's chain stores.
Some delicious chains aren't fairing as well as DD: Cold Stone Creamery closed 11 of its 15 stores here in the past year, while Tasti D-Lite dropped from 18 to 14 and Crumbs famously crumbled to 16 stores from 23.
The new wave of chains? In food, Chipotle, Pret a Manger, and Just Salad have at least doubled the number of stores they had in 2009. And as far as our shopping habits go, Family Dollar, Urban Outfitters, and M.A.C have also at least doubled in the past five years.
Finally, here's the full rundown of the top ten chains in New York—how many of these do you frequent?
· Dunkin Donuts—536 locations
· Subway - 462 locations
· Duane Reade/Walgreens—318 locations
· Metro PCS—298 locations
· Starbucks—282 locations
· McDonalds—245 locations
· Baskin Robbins—211 locations
· Rite Aid—201 locations
· T-Mobile—185 locations
· GNC—156 locations
· More Chain Stores Opened in Brooklyn Than Any Other Borough in 2013 [Racked NY]
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