By: Ilana Siyance
Empty storefronts don’t lie. Manhattan has lost over 5,000 businesses due to the pandemic, a new report has revealed.
As reported by the NY Post, a report from New York City Comptroller Brad Lander shows that the number of private firms doing business in Manhattan was down by 5,200 during the last three months of 2021, in comparison to the same time frame in 2019. That decline more than cancels out the gains seen in other boroughs as New Yorkers relocated to less crowded areas, steering clear of the Big Apple’s tall towers in an attempt at social distancing. “The COVID-19 pandemic is the largest shock to the New York City’s private establishment ecosystem in decades, pushing many businesses into closure and reshaping their distribution across the city,” the analysis said.
The closures easily offset the gains reported in Brooklyn, The Bronx and Staten Island leaving the five boroughs with a net loss of over 4,000 businesses over the time period. This represents a 1.5 percent decline, compared to pre-pandemic totals of roughly 275,000 private storefronts and establishments.
Furthermore, stores that are open say that their businesses are not back to pre-pandemic sales. “I can definitely say it’s not fully back,” said Sereina Brenhofer, the general manager at The Vintage Twin. She said sales are up 64 percent year-over-year at the vintage clothing store, located on Broadway, but still not caught up with pre-pandemic levels. The store is now closed Saturdays, whereas it used to be open seven days a week before COVID-19. Back in July 2020, towards the end of the first deadly wave, the shop’s chief operating officer had told the Post that the store was barely hanging on. “There are hours and hours where no one comes in the store at this point,” Alyssa Morrow said at the time. “We’re down to bare bones.”
The other boroughs of NYC fared better than Manhattan, with Brooklyn leading the way. “The major citywide decline in private establishments during the pandemic period has also accelerated a trend where an increasing share of establishments are found away from Manhattan, especially toward Brooklyn,” the comptroller’s office reported. Brooklyn, the most populous borough, saw 1,267 new storefronts added over the same three-month period. The Bronx picked up 108 new stores, while Staten Island added 8 stores. The borough of Queens, however, lost 158 private storefronts.
The comptroller’s report shows that the decline in employment across NYC’s five boroughs were even worse during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Over the same time period, jobs in New York City fell by approximately 295,000, or 7 percent of its base of approximately 4 million at the end of 2019,” Lander reported.
A separate report from the labor department showed that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the country last week hit its highest level in close to eight months. As per the Post, on Thursday, it was reported that across the country, applications for jobless aid for the week ending July 9 jumped by 9,000 to 244,000, up from 235,000 the week before.
