Chain stores growing slowly, but Dunkin Donuts continues to dominate in NYC: Study

The last year might not have been the greatest for national retailers in New York City, but the five boroughs seem to still be largely running on Dunkin.

A recent study released by the Center for an Urban Future shows that the number of chain store locations across the city has slowed down in the last year — with locations just going up by 1 percent between 2014 to 2015, compared to 2.5 percent the previous year.

The data was released through the Center’s annual “ State of the Chains” study, which ranks the national retailers with the most locations in New York City.

Although the numbers overall slowed down, the study showed that Dunkin Donuts still remains the city’s largest retailer with 568 stores across the city — with most of its expansion in Brooklyn and Queens. The chain has 171 stores in Queens, 149 in Manhattan, 135 in Brooklyn, 80 in the Bronx and 33 on Staten Island.

Subway comes in second with 444 locations — 18 fewer than last year.

According to the “State of the Chains,” 300 retailers, which were included in last year’s rankings, had expanded from a total of 7,473 stores in 2014 to 7,550 stores in 2015.

The top 10 national retailers in the city include MetroPCS with 323 stores, Duane Reade/Walgreens with 307, Starbucks with 307, McDonald’s with 232, T-Mobile with 217, Baskin Robbins with 214, Rite Aid with 197 and GNC with a total of 175 stores.

In the past 12 months, five national retailers — including Baja Fresh, Ecko Unltd, and Montblanc — have also closed all their locations in the city.

The study also found that 52 retailers — including Pret a Manger and Papyrus — have no locations outside of Manhattan while five — including Arby’s and Panda Express — have them only in Queens.

While numbers decreased in Manhattan and Staten Island in the last year, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens have seen net increase in national retailers, according to the study. The Bronx increased by 3.3 percent, Brooklyn by 2.6 percent and Queens by 0.8 percent.

To check out the full list of stores, check out the “State of the Chains” here.