Activists Mull Ways To Help NYC's Mom & Pop Stores Fight Back Against Chains

EAST VILLAGE, NY — East Village activists are working on zoning rules that would effectively bar big box stores from taking over swaths of the neighborhood, bucking a long-running trend that has seen locally-owned stores forced to close up shop.

In the past year alone, commercial giants including Target and Trader Joe's have both announced plans to open in the East Village in 2018, while dozens of smaller businesses have closed as their owners complain of cripplingly high rents.

The neighborhood's Community Board 3 is weighing zoning rules that would prohibit more than one chain store per block and restrict sizes for restaurants, banks and shops. The rule would be designed to help smaller stores compete, and limit the amount of rent that landlords can expect to get for their properties.

A special meeting will be held on Wednesday to discuss the proposals. What happens in the East Village could have repercussions citywide as neighborhoods become so expensive only huge companies can afford to operate in them.

Last month, a report by State Senator Brad Hoylman, who represents several Manhattan neighborhoods, showed that a fifth of storefronts in Greenwich Village's famed Bleecker Street stood empty, victims of "high rent blight" that he said affected many city neighborhoods. Landlords are happy to let their properties sit vacant while they wait for the tenants who can afford sky-high rents, he said.

DNAinfo reported last year that more than a dozen prime retail spots in six blocks north of Times Square sat empty as landlords waited for a perceived hike in rental value when a huge development called the Nordstrom Tower opens.

"When mom and pop stores are pushed out, landlords will often leave stores empty for long periods of time in hopes of finding a tenant who can pay much higher rent," Hoylman wrote in his report.

"Instead of renting to another independent business for a similar rent as the previous tenant, landlords will hold out for a tenant – often a large corporate chain – that is able to pay exponentially more than the previous tenant."

Zoning regulations are already used to produce urban planning goals in neighborhoods, encouraging business development on streets lacking economic activity, preserving affordable housing in areas that are gentrifying, or to promote a specific kind of property use.

Community board 3 is inviting residents to give input at a public forum on Wednesday night. The meeting will include a presentation about what exactly the special zoning district would entail. The public comment that is expected to stretch well into the night.

The district "has experienced a dramatic loss of small 'mom & pop' businesses in the past 10+ years, and a resulting decrease in the diversity and affordability of local goods and services," according to a community board notice announcing the public forum.

Under the current proposal, the special district would roughly be bordered by 14th Street, Houston Street, Second Avenue and Avenue D.

The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at 331 E 12th St. Each person will be permitted two minutes to speak. Should the measure be passed by Community Board 3, they would require approval from the city's planning commission and the City Council.

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Photo credit: Joe Raedle / Staff / Getty Images News.