Park Slope's Retail Likely To Continue Post-Pandemic Surge: Study

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Rising demand on Park Slope's commercial corridors further intensified this summer as the retail market in the outer boroughs bounces back from the coronavirus crisis, according to a new report.

The neighborhood's two retail destinations — Fifth and Seventh avenue — were singled out in a study of this summer's real estate market, which found that residential areas have fared far better in their pandemic recovery than storefronts in office-dependent strips in Manhattan.

That recovery is in even fuller swing given a delta variant-driven delay in workers heading back to the office, sending even more retailers to set up shop in Brooklyn, the Real Estate Board of New York researchers said.

"Prime retail corridors in Brooklyn, such as Cobble Hill, Park Slope and Williamsburg, have bounced back in 2021," they wrote. "With the post-Labor Day return to office in Manhattan now delayed, some retailers are doubling down on the more substantial foot traffic generated in residential/local services corridors in Brooklyn."

The latest surge will build on a growing demand for Brooklyn's commercial corridors that started earlier this year.

At the start of the year, retailers started snatching up an unprecedented amount of what is known as "second-generation space" that had become vacant during 2020 in Brooklyn, researchers said. Second-generation space refers to storefronts that already had a tenant, compared to newly-built spots that might require retailers to spend more on building out the space.

That trend was certainly true on Park Slope's Fifth Avenue.

A record number of empty storefronts on the main corridor brought on by the coronavirus crisis had already started to fill up in the spring, according to a Patch study.

Across the borough, researchers found that restaurant, food and beverage businesses, quick service restaurants, fitness centers and gyms have been very active this year. More recently, national retailers have also started taking note of Brooklyn's high foot traffic, the report found.

In Park Slope, the report pointed specifically to high competition for restaurant and food and beverage space on Fifth and Seventh avenues. They noted a new grocery store and burger joint on Fifth Avenue as examples of the trend.

The rebound in Brooklyn's commercial corridors comes as Manhattan struggles to recover from a pandemic slump.

The percentage of unoccupied storefronts in two Midtown Manhattan corridors stood at nearly 30 percent this summer, while commercial hotspots in Brooklyn had well below 20 percent vacancy rates, according to another study from the Real Estate Board.

Find the full Brooklyn study here.

Read More:

• Park Slope 'Optimistic' About Fifth Ave's Empty Storefront Crisis
• Coronavirus Crisis Doubles Empty Stores On Park Slope's Fifth Ave