55 Harlem Storefronts Stand Empty On 125th Street In Troubling Trend

HARLEM, NY — The number of vacant storefronts has continued to grow along one of Harlem's most iconic business corridors since the early months of the COVID pandemic.

Patch found 55 storefronts standing empty on 125th Street between Broadway and Third Avenue, an increase of 13 vacancies from when we counted 42 on the same stretch in October 2020.

"Vacant, shuttered, and neglected storefronts are, unfortunately, no secret in Harlem," Council Member Shaun Abreu, who represents a stretch of the 125th Street section, told Patch. "It is a true shame that so many leases sit unoccupied on 125th street — one of the most lively and historic commercial thoroughfares in all of New York City."

Patch's count of the mile-and-a-half 125th Street stretch nearly mirrored data from the city that shows the lease status of every ground-floor and second-floor commercial space that recorded 54 vacancies for the same stretch of 125th Street.

Along 125th Street, there is no more famed venue than the Apollo, but proximity to the historic theater did not protect multiple nearby businesses.

Directly across from the theater are long-empty sites like Mart 125, the former open-air market near Frederick Douglass Boulevard that has been unused since 2001, despite periodic efforts to revive it.

On the Frederick Douglass Boulevard corner where the Apollo sits, there is a large vacant Duane Reade pharmacy.

Other major businesses shut their doors more recently, such as Party City at the corner of 125th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, and the Apple Bank branch inside the grand Harlem Savings Bank near Lexington Avenue.

For many years, New York City elected officials worked to create a database that would track the vacant storefronts throughout the five boroughs.

While the database went live in 2021, local politicians have voiced their concern over information such as the location's average lease duration and the price of rent not getting included.

Many New Yorkers had observed a growing number of vacant storefronts in their neighborhoods in the lead up to COVID, but Harlem had been a relative exception to the pre-pandemic trend.

Harlem had seen the second-highest rate of retail growth between 2012 and 2018 of any surveyed in the city, according to a report by the city's comptroller office.

However, it did not mean that the 125th Street stretch didn't have its share of vacancies to begin with, and the ramifications from the COVID pandemic continue to be felt throughout the city's business sector.

Storefront vacancies increased 11 percent in Harlem from December 2019 to July 2021, according to data from the city.

While many of the retail vacancies found by Patch along 125th Street had formerly housed small businesses and had been vacant for years, there was a section of storefronts that housed larger chains that closed more recently, like the former Duane Reade pharmacy.

In all, 40 national chain retailers closed in Harlem during 2020.

Along with national chain closures effecting the 125th Street vacancy blight, new developments also played a part.

Development is still going nearly eight years after the project began to turn the Pathmark supermarket into a residential building that has left the street empty.

Check out more photos of the 125th Street vacancies below.

Four vacant storefronts are not represented on the map because Patch could not find an exact address for them.