NORTH BROOKLYN — The area containing Bedford-Stuyvesant, Williamsburg, DUMBO, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Bushwick, Crown Heights, Clinton Hill and Fort Greene is leading the growth of small businesses in the city, according to “Small Business Dynamism in New York City’s Economic Recovery,” a report issued by the city’s Economic Development Corp. this week.
Citywide, “new businesses open at a faster rate than existing businesses close,” the report said. Since 2019, these Brooklyn neighborhoods have experienced a net growth of 1,000 small businesses — more than the rest of the city combined.
Moreover, the report says, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, these areas of Brooklyn were home to the highest rates of new small-business formation, with around 1,300 small companies opening each year. Among the growth areas in North Brooklyn business, according to EDC, were new restaurants, computer systems design and technical consulting firms.
“Combined, these professional and consumer service sectors reflect the transformation of Northern Brooklyn over the past decade into a hub of entrepreneurship, one that helped lead small business growth during the pandemic and recovery period,” the report says.
A September 2023 article in THE CITY points to the Brooklyn Navy Yard as an example of the kind of growth the report talks about. The Navy Yard, says Greg David, the article’s author, is home to 500 industrial and commercial businesses. While some large companies, such as the Steiner Film Studios, make their homes there, “the average company size is only 12 employees.”
Another such area in Northern Brooklyn is DUMBO. Although DUMBO is best known for its apartment and condo boom, the district, according to the DUMBO BID’s 2023 report, “supported 103 indie businesses and 1,000-plus creative…
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