A Third Of Storefronts Are Empty On Bed-Stuy Main Streets: Study

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — A months-long study of Bed-Stuy's businesses has found that a startling number of storefronts stand empty on the neighborhood's major commercial corridors.

An average of 33 percent of storefronts along Bed-Stuy's six commercial corridors are vacant, with the rate reaching as high as 41 percent on sections of Dekalb Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard, according to survey results reported by Bridge Street Development Corporation on Wednesday.

The "extremely high" vacancy rate is one of several statistics unearthed by the surveys that show the strain Bed-Stuy's businesses are still under a year into the coronavirus pandemic.

The surveys — which just happened to fall amid the coronavirus crisis — are part of a three-year Commercial District Needs Assessment that Bridge Street is leading to understand and help improve the neighborhood's business climate.

"It was pretty unique that we would get this opportunity to do a needs assessment in the midst of COVID, which had a profound impact on all of our small businesses," Bridge Street Senior Program Director Oma Holloway said. "...This is probably the first time in over 10, 15 years that Bed-Stuy had an opportunity to have a very comprehensive needs assessment."

Researchers took a look at six major parts of Dekalb Avenue, Bedford Avenue, Nostrand Avenue, Fulton Street, Tompkins Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard by surveying 350 merchants along the streets and 850 consumers who regularly shop on the main streets.

Bridge Street also "catalogued" 950 businesses along the corridors and, on top of vacancies, took inventory of their storefront quality, streetscape and business type.

The organization said they are still investigating how much the coronavirus crisis played a role in the vacancy rate in particular given that similar data isn't completely available for before the pandemic.

But, other statistics revealed by the study show more directly the toll the crisis has taken on businesses.

Nearly 70 percent of businesses surveyed said that their revenue decreased during the coronavirus pandemic, and 60 percent reported a significant decrease in sales.

Still, as it has across New York City, the pandemic has also offered an opportunity for small businesses, the researchers said. About 10 percent of businesses surveyed had opened in the last year.

Deshaun Mars with the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce said those numbers are due to business owners pivoting their services to survive the pandemic, New Yorkers finding newly-vacated spaces to open their own business and businesses that might have already been in the pipeline pre-pandemic.

"We're seeing a record number of people starting their businesses," Mars said.

In terms of helping improve Bed-Stuy's business climate, Bridge Street and the department of Small Business Services plan to use the needs assessment to figure out how they can boost the neighborhood's businesses, whether that be starting new merchants' associations, improving storefronts and streetscapes or helping businesses find financial relief.

Find the full presentation from Bridge Street and discussion hosted by Council Member Robert Cornegy Jr. below: