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Last November, we assessed the retail changes on the Upper East Side, so now let's take a look across town on the Upper West Side, where some interesting changes are taking place. So far, there are 27 empty retail storefronts (and that's not including the fifteen empty restaurant sites) along the main Broadway, Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues shopping corridors.
Doomsayers and recession porn fanatics may start to predict another retail bust area, but from what we can see, the situation is not so dire. The streets are still teeming with shoppers; stores like Loehman's, Victoria's Secret, Coach and Intermix, while offering sales, still stand strong. Plus, who can forget about the new Apple Store and the much-anticipated Trader Joe's opening? While Plaza Too, Shabby Chic and neighborhood faves will be missed, it seems like a good number of the empty spaces held stores that were just not resonating with the nabe shoppers anymore (goodbye copy shop and scarf store). Plus, as we gathered intel on foot, we even witnessed prospective new tenants calling landlords on the spot to inquire about empty spaces.
There are empty storefronts to keep an eye on though, including the mysterious Custo Barcelona that has been threatening to open in the former Penang restaurant space since Spring 2008 and the two still empty units in the former Reebok space on Columbus (while the third unit is now occupied by one of the infamous Uggs locations). To follow the action, we've mapped out all the empty retail spaces on the Upper West Side.
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