Chain Stores Shut Down Across Forest Hills, Rego Park

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — It is no secret that the coronavirus pandemic has posed an existential threat to New York's small businesses, but a new study shows that the crisis has also wiped out hundreds of chain store locations across the city — including in Forest Hills and Rego Park.

Nineteen chain stores in Forest Hills and Rego Park closed in 2020, according to a report released Wednesday by the Center for an Urban Future.

The number of retail chain locations in Forest Hills dropped to 74 from 84, or a 12-percent decrease, and the number of chain stores in Rego Park went down to 49 from 58, or a 16-percent drop, the Center for an Urban Future found.

Brands that left the neighborhood included Victoria's Secret and Aldo, both of which closed their locations on Austin Street this year.

Those storefronts are among a dozen that now sit empty on Austin Street, which has largely weathered the economic devastation that the pandemic has had on businesses, a Patch survey found in October.

The Forest Hills ZIP code 11375 has the fourth-highest number of chain stores in Queens, while Rego Park ranks 10th, according to the report.

Queens had the second-highest number of chain store closures after Manhattan.

Across Queens, 198 chain stores shut their doors this year, or 11.2 percent of the borough's chain store locations, the study found.

Patch editor Nick Garber contributed to this report.