2 UES 'Dark Stores' Are Operating Illegally, Boro Prez Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Two rapid grocery-delivery businesses may be operating illegally in Upper East Side storefronts, according to a new investigation into the controversial sites led by Manhattan's top elected official.

The well-funded startups have expanded rapidly across the city in recent months, promising to deliver groceries to customers' doorstep within 15 minutes via a few clicks on an app or website. To make good on that pledge, the companies have taken over dozens of storefronts and converted them into mini-warehouses known as "dark stores," where workers stock up on groceries before venturing out into the neighborhood on e-bikes.

The trend has prompted concern that the dark stores could lead to "dark cities," threatening to eliminate street commerce and put traditional corner shops out of business. What's more, according to Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, they may be illegal.

Of 22 dark stores that Brewer's office surveyed around Manhattan last weekend, all but four are based in storefronts that were not zoned for warehouses or distribution centers.

That includes two grocery-delivery sites on the Upper East Side: Gopuff at 1356 Lexington Ave., on East 90th Street; and a 1520 store at 435 East 86th St., between First and York avenues. The two storefronts previously housed a Duane Reade pharmacy and a French restaurant, respectively, before being taken over by the delivery businesses.

Like most of the surveyed dark stores, Brewer said these two are inaccessible to the public and have covered-over windows — features that "actively work against a neighborhood's retail character," according to the report. (Other dark stores not mentioned in Brewer's report also appear to be open in the neighborhood, including a Buyk location on First Avenue and East 88th Street, and Fridge No More on Third Avenue and East 92nd Street.)

After this story was published, Gopuff responded to several of the borough president's claims, including that the storefront is inaccessible to the public — in fact, customers can enter all of their Manhattan locations, the company said.

Brewer, meanwhile, said in her report that zoning rules "exist so that we have well-balanced streets, neighborhoods, and communities."

"We don't want warehouses and distribution centers next to coffee shops, daycare centers, and bookstores where these dead storefronts attract vandalism, stymie an active street life, and raise quality of life concerns."

1520 did not respond to a request for comment.

Brewer is not alone in her concern about the businesses' effect on the urban fabric. In an essay this week in Bloomberg's CityLab, two researchers called on cities to "delineate the increasingly fuzzy boundary between stealth micro-fulfillment outposts and the traditional commerce of bodegas."

"If not, our post-pandemic urban future is less likely to be one where we’re on a first-name basis with the neighborhood baker than one where the streets are filled with workers ferrying cilantro for impromptu tacos," they wrote.

In October, Brewer wrote to city and state agencies with a request that they do more to regulate the grocery centers. If no action is taken, Brewer has said, bodegas and neighborhood grocery stores could suffer the same fate as taxis following the explosion of ride-share apps.

Have an Upper East Side news tip? Email reporter Nick Garber at nick.garber@patch.com.