New ‘Open Storefronts’ Program Lets NYC Retailers Sell Outdoors

NEW YORK CITY — It’s open season for outdoor business in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic.

A new program — Open Storefronts — will allow retailers to sell their wares outside through the holidays, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.

All roughly 40,00 small business owners citywide need to do to use the sidewalk in front of their storefront is fill out a simple application, he said.

“We want to cut through the red tape, we want to make it easy for people to move forward,” he said.

The program starts Friday and will run through Dec. 31.

De Blasio said the program aims to help buoy small, local businesses through the holiday season even as the coronavirus pandemic continues. He said it’s inspired by the popular Open Restaurants effort, which allowed more than 10,000 eateries to set up outdoor dining spaces.

The Open Storefronts program will differ in that businesses can’t set up semi-permanent structures outside and must move their goods indoors at the end of the day, officials said.

They must also leave eight feet of space on sidewalks for pedestrians, officials said. Businesses under the Open Storefronts program can only use streets if their thoroughfares are part of the city’s Open Streets program, according to the city.

De Blasio made the new program official with an executive he signed during his daily new conference. He repeatedly emphasized the effort will help businesses during the holiday season.

“The holidays are coming — great opportunity to patronize your local businesses,” he said.

And local businesses have clamored for just such an arrangement for the holidays. The New York City BID Association, which includes all 76 business improvement districts, recently proposed opening up sidewalks for retail use specifically during the holiday season.

"This is critical make or break time for them," Mark Caserta, executive director of Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue business improvement district, told Patch.

More information about the new program can be found at nyc.gov/OpenStorefronts.