{"id":690,"date":"2020-11-18T13:45:24","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T13:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/content-manager\/?post_type=studies&p=13556"},"modified":"2020-11-18T13:46:32","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T18:46:32","slug":"over-30-percent-of-storefronts-are-empty-on-42nd-street-as-new-covid-19-restrictions-loom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/research\/over-30-percent-of-storefronts-are-empty-on-42nd-street-as-new-covid-19-restrictions-loom\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 30% of Storefronts are empty on 42nd Street as New COVID-19 Restrictions Loom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Things finally felt somewhat normal again just a couple of months ago after the city first entered the COVID-19 lockdown<\/a>. New Yorkers waited in line for brunch, brought their furry friends out to the dog run, and enjoyed cocktails and liquor on a rooftop like there\u2019s no tomorrow. Other than having the children or roommates around all the time, noticing masks on people\u2019s faces, and all the metro cards<\/a> most people no longer need but still keep in their wallet for nostalgic reasons, it seemed that the city finally reached new normalcy.<\/p>\n

Many businesses that were temporarily closed reopened their shop to serve the residents. However, while outdoor dining, open streets, and limited indoor capacity have certainly helped small businesses across the city, remote-working and the lack of tourists continue to threaten the livelihood of restaurants, gift stores, coffee shops, and other businesses that rely heavily on walk-in customers.<\/p>\n

As coronavirus cases surge across the nation and the 7-day test positivity rate reaching 3% in New York City, COVID-19 once again puts the future of businesses in jeopardy. And it\u2019s not just the tenants who are struggling. Landlords also suffer as their retail tenants find ways to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

To better understand how the city has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the data science team at RentHop walked through three major cross streets in Midtown Manhattan \u2013 14th Street<\/strong>, 34th Street<\/strong>, and 42nd Street<\/strong> \u2013 and counted the number of empty storefronts, including stores for lease and places no longer in business, between First Avenue and 10th Avenue.<\/p>\n

The map below highlights all the vacant storefronts we collected.<\/p>\n