Empty windows and “for rent” signs line 125th Street in Harlem, one of the most iconic business corridors in New York City.
On one block alone, between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard, where the Apollo Theater sits, there are nine shuttered storefronts. Some have been closed for years. Others have closed their doors more recently, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New York City’s commercial areas are struggling with vacant businesses and shuttered storefronts — and it’s apparent across the city. Vacant storefronts dot the five boroughs from Midtown and the Upper West Side to Flushing, Brighton Beach and Staten Island, creating a fractured cityscape.
This is strongly felt in Harlem along 125th Street, where, according to the latest city data, there are more than 70 vacant storefronts on the East and West ends on the street combined. It’s a gut punch to the area, which was seeing an economic upswing as an emerging retail center in the years before the pandemic.
But amid an post-pandemic shift in retail, stores in the area are left scrambling to stay afloat, with little answer as to why — or what the answer is.
“Retail storefronts are so vital for communities,” said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future. “They’re critical for the vibrancy of neighborhoods. In some cases, they help attract tourists to neighborhoods. They often provide local employment for people living in the neighborhood. Sometimes for entrepreneurs, usually mom and pops, they kind of keep wealth in the neighborhood. Empty storefronts are an incredible problem for New York.”
Experts point to different reasons for it: High rent prices, the continuing growth of online shopping and the lingering effects of a pandemic that has upended New York’s retail landscape.
After decades of neglect, 125th Street’s reputation as a cultural center in Manhattan drew new stores, construction and government offices to the area….
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