![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bf3df3fc7e5447637adcee4d7054a8d5d6-HC-Rooftop-Macys--008.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Discount retailer TJ Maxx is opening a new 40,000-square-foot store in Herald Towers, its first new store here in a decade.
\n Photo: Courtesy of JEMB Realty\n <\/p>\n
TJ Maxx has signed a 40,000-square-foot lease for a new store in Herald Square \u2014 the discount retailer\u2019s first new store in New York City in more than a decade. It\u2019s good news for bargain hunters who love the random scores and marked-down designer castoffs of a TJ Maxx haul \u2014 and a positive sign for the sluggish local retail scene, which has seen a lot of turnover and vacancy since the pandemic, with the departure of Uniqlo, Forever 21, and Kay Jewelers, among other brands.\u00a0The lease is also a good omen for the retail scene in general; it was the largest lease for a new store in New York signed this year or the last, according to the New York Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n The new store, in Herald Towers, a historic hotel turned apartment building on 34th Street and Sixth Avenue owned by JEMB Realty, will take over what some may remember as the Gap store on the corner. Since the clothing brand left in 2020, the space has been largely vacant, save for some pop-ups. But leasing in the building seems to be turning around; TJ Maxx will join several other new stores opening there, including an Old Navy, scheduled to open later this year. (Old Navy closed its four-story flagship a few storefronts down at 150 West 34th Street, where it had been since before 2000; the Irish discount clothing store Primark is now slated to open in that space this spring.)<\/p>\n For decades, Herald Square was one of the city\u2019s busiest shopping districts, known for the dense crowds making their way to the Macy\u2019s flagship and other mid-tier, mass-market retailers in the area. But after the pandemic, foot traffic dropped significantly. It had the highest availability rate of the city\u2019s retail corridors at 33.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, according to Cushman Wakefield<\/a>, the same as a year before (this number includes both vacancies and soon-to-be-vacant spaces seeking new tenants). That\u2019s nearly double the 17.3 percent rate (also high) in the runner-up corridor in the\u00a0Meatpacking District. Retail rents in Herald Square, meanwhile, were down 4.4 percent year over year. As Crain\u2019s reported this fall<\/a>, the reasons for Herald Square\u2019s retail slump are not entirely clear but are likely tied to some combination of a Trump-related tourism decline, the lingering effects of the pandemic, and the shift to online shopping, especially for mid-market retail. (Luxury brands, on the other hand, have been gobbling up real estate<\/a>, especially in the Plaza District.) Late last year, H&M announced that it was closing 200 stores globally, including two in Manhattan<\/a> (on East 86th Street and Church Street in the Financial District). Victoria\u2019s Secret also closed dozens of U.S. stores<\/a> last year. Some landlords blame the 2023 opening of Grand Central Madison, the Long Island Rail Road\u2019s East Side stop, for taking away foot traffic from Herald Square, although that seems a little far-fetched.<\/p>\n New York\u2019s overall retail scene has largely rebounded since the pandemic, with Soho and the Upper East Side doing particularly well. However, most of the large new retail leases citywide have been signed by health and fitness clubs, medical clinics, fast-food retailers, and educational facilities, according to the Post, making TJ Maxx\u2019s new lease something of an outlier.<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Curbed Newsletter<\/p>\n A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n