National chains expand, but only in NYC

More than four dozen national chain retailers have taken advantage of low rents to expand in New York City over the past year, according to Bloomberg’s Patricia Wu. Some of the stores with the most significant expansion plans include Dunkin’ Donuts, Subway, McDonald’s and Starbucks. Jonathan Bowles of the Center for an Urban Future said those stores have had deep enough pockets to survive the recession so far and see it as an opportunity to expand. But Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said he is not seeing this kind of retail expansion outside of New York.