Upper East Side Lost Chain Stores In 2022, Report Finds

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The last couple of years have been tough for the Upper East Side's small businesses — and even chain stores are being squeezed, according to a new report.

The "State of the Chains" report, released Wednesday by the Center for an Urban Future for the 15th year, studied the number of national chain retailers opening and closing across the five boroughs in 2022.

It found that the citywide number of chain stores inched up slightly over last year, rising by 0.3 percent — a fraction of last year's bigger jump of 2.7 percent. The number of chain stores is still well below pre-pandemic levels, with 782 fewer such shops than there were in late 2019.

But on the Upper East Side, the number of chain locations dropped slightly this year, falling from 240 in 2021 to 238 as of November 2022.

Those figures are still far below pre-pandemic 2019, when the Upper East Side had a combined 263 chain stores, according to a previous year's study.

Here's the breakdown for each neighborhood ZIP code:

• 10021: 51 chain locations in 2022 (50 in 2021)
• 10028: 79 chain locations in 2022 (78 in 2021)
• 10065: 52 chain locations in 2022 (54 in 2021)
• 10075: 21 chain locations in 2022 (20 in 2021)
• 10128: 35 chain locations in 2022 (38 in 2021)

Since before the pandemic, Manhattan's chain store losses have been "significantly greater than those of any other borough," the report found, citing the rise of remote work and the decline in office occupancy. The borough now has 14.4 percent fewer chain stores — 427 in total — than in 2019.

The rise of online shopping has also played a role in killing off chains citywide — the sectors with the biggest declines this year were all merchandisers, like electronics, games and toys, beauty salons, and pet supplies, according to the study.

Duane Reade has closed the most stores of any chain citywide this year, shuttering 22 locations — including a prominent location on Third Avenue and East 93rd Street in Yorkville, whose closure earlier this fall sparked dismay.

Other chains seeing big losses this year included Metro by T-Mobile, Subway, Pret A Manger, and 7-Eleven.

Meanwhile, other chains are plotting big rebounds: Barnes & Noble announced a long-awaited return to the Upper East Side in November, as the bookstore company plots more than 30 other openings in the coming year.

As for the national chain with the most total locations in the city: that honor falls once again to Dunkin' Donuts, which added five locations this year to reach a total of 620. (That's still less than its pre-pandemic total of 636.)

Starbucks, with 316 locations, placed second — its highest ranking in the 15-year history of the State of the Chains study.

Read the full 2022 "State of the Chains" report here.