A Shake Shack restaurant, Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group and the Gallery at Westbury Plaza

Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group is further expanding its Shake Shack empire — which already stretches as far as Kuwait — to Long Island, Long Island Business News reported. The beloved burger chain inked a deal for an undisclosed amount of space at the Gallery at Westbury Plaza, a 330,000-square-foot redevelopment site at 900 Old Country Road in Westbury, N.Y., according to previous reports.

The shopping center’s Miami-based developer Equity One projects that the eatery will open in the fourth quarter of 2012. Leases have already been signed there with Trader Joe’s, Saks Off Fifth, Nordstrom Rack and the Container Store. [more]

Nordstrom, the Seattle-based department store, is on the hunt for retail space in a bid to open its first full-priced New York City location. The company successfully debuted Nordstrom Rack, its discount spinoff, three months ago in Union Square, but doesn’t “want to be known to New Yorkers as a discounter,” one broker told Crain’s. A possible location for the retailer is Boston Properties’ brand new office tower at 250 West 55th Street, sources said, which could be welcome news for the stalled project. Nordstrom, whose spokesperson said the company is “still looking for the right opportunity,” came close to opening a store on the opposite side of town three years ago, when it was in talks to lease space at the former Drake Hotel on Park Avenue and East 56th Street. That deal never came to fruition. [Crain's]

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If pedestrian traffic seems denser in Union Square, there’s a reason — the glut of chain retailers and eateries — including Nordstrom Rack, Chipotle and T.G.I. Friday’s — in the neighborhood has caused a spike in the number of visitors coming to the area in recent years, according to the Villager. Foot traffic jumped 59 percent between 2003 and 2008, according to the Union Square Partnership, a business improvement group, while the the number of subway passengers coming to the area has increased 42 percent over the last decade. The recent flux of shoppers, however, has been a long time coming, according to industry insiders, who point to Whole Foods Market and Filene’s Basement as early pioneers of the Union Square retail scene. [The Villager]

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Against the odds, Union Square retail businesses have been thriving in the recession, even as some of New York City’s most venerated shopping areas struggle. Fifth Avenue, Times Square and Soho, all long-time shopping havens, have all seen retail vacancies hit 10 percent or higher this year. But even as Circuit City and the Virgin Megastore vacated the Union Square neighborhood after the chain went bankrupt earlier this year, two new chains, Nordstrom Rack and Best Buy, announced they’d be moving in. Rachel Meltzer, a researcher with the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, said that foot traffic in the area has risen 59 percent in the last five years, a key component to the neighborhood’s success. “I don’t think it’s considered a transportation corridor anymore so much as a destination,” Meltzer said.

If you are a national or international retailer, it is your objective to operate a retail store in New York City, with Manhattan remaining the prize location. And in the down market, more national chains are capitalizing on lower rents. On July 31, Texas-based J.C. Penney opened its first Manhattan location at the Manhattan Mall. Later this year, residents of Manhattan will no longer have to travel to Astoria or Brooklyn to shop at Costco Warehouse Club. Costco is scheduled to open its long-awaited store in East Harlem at 116th Street at East River Plaza. [more]

Nordstrom Rack, a discount unit of retailer Nordstrom, will open at One Union Square South, occupying 32,136 square feet on the lower level of the former Virgin Megastore space, according to a press release from Nordstrom. The store, the first Nordstrom Rack in Manhattan, is slated to open in spring 2010. The terms of Nordstrom’s lease were not disclosed, but The Real Deal reported in March that retail space facing Union Square Park usually commands $400 per square foot and the Virgin Megastore space could rent for even more. Best Buy is also coming to One Union Square South and is expected to open a 46,000-square-foot store in the former Circuit City space during the fourth quarter of this year. TRD [more]