\u201cOnly thing that changed is the sign. Everything is the same,\u201d said MD Khalilur Rahman of Parkchester.<\/p>\n
Rahman said his name no longer appears on three restaurants he sold in recent years, though the new owners kept much of the original design.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis glass,\u201d he said. \u201cI put there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rahman said working seven days a week, combined with high rents, rising food costs and increases in the minimum wage, led to mounting losses that forced him to close his businesses.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
A cluster near Metropolitan Avenue has more than a dozen vacant storefronts, with a 28% vacancy rate in a key retail stretch
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Data shows the area had just one vacancy before the pandemic, rising to 16 by late 2025
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Business owners cite high rents, rising costs and wage increases as major challenges
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Local leaders say a coordinated plan is needed, warning recovery can\u2019t wait for future transit improvements<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is bad for me. Depression,\u201d said Rahman. \u201cThe close, it has broken my heart. I have lost more than $3 million in this time. Every month, I\u2019m losing the money, more than $100,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shuttered businesses are even more noticeable a few blocks away near a Macy\u2019s department store on Metropolitan Avenue.<\/p>\n
Live XYZ, a mapping and analytics company that tracks more than 160,000 storefront and retail spaces across the city, found a cluster of more than a dozen vacancies in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of the surprise was that it was such a thriving storefront economy before, whereas now, a 28% vacancy rate on 57 spaces is unusually high,\u201d said Chris Bradicich, director of growth and partnerships at Live XYZ.<\/p>\n
Bradicich said that in early 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, only one of the 57 storefronts in the area was vacant.<\/p>\n
By the third quarter of 2025, that number had grown to 16 vacant storefronts.<\/p>\n
He said the 28.1% vacancy rate in the two blocks around Macy\u2019s is significantly higher than what he considers a stable rate of 10.8% vacancies for all of Parkchester.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s empty inside. Bolton\u2019s was here for a really long time,\u201d said Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson.<\/p>\n
On Feb. 18, Gibson addressed the issue, saying it would require coordination among elected officials, community-based organizations, Community Board 9 and the Bronx Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also have to come together and develop a plan,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cWhat does that plan look like, when it means identifying new opportunities, what does the vacancy rate look like, what does the space look like, how are we advertising and promoting Parkchester in a real way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gibson\u2019s office said the borough president held a private virtual meeting last week with elected officials and Parkchester management. Her office denied NY1 access, but said the meeting was productive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is ongoing engagement to bring new businesses to the area, and we\u2019ll be awaiting additional information,\u201d her office said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Mohammed Mujumder, chair of Bronx Community Board 9, said he was not aware of the meeting but urged leaders to act quickly.<\/p>\n
He also cautioned against relying on the planned 2027 opening of a new Metro-North station in Parkchester as a solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is inter-related,\u201d said Mujumder. \u201cWhen the business, especially the middle-class business, small business goes down. Less people live here, less money generated.\u201d<\/p>\n
While reopening a business is not currently feasible for Rahman, he said he hopes to return in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, no, but I will come back to this area!\u201d said Rahman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOnly thing that changed is the sign. Everything is the same,\u201d said MD Khalilur Rahman of Parkchester. Rahman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[2296,2024,25,128,231,36776,9,24,12,63,10387,129,131,130,27,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-189544","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-app-human-interest","9":"tag-app-in-the-community","10":"tag-app-top-stories","11":"tag-bronx","12":"tag-human-interest","13":"tag-in-the-neighborhood","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-ron-lee","19":"tag-the-bronx","20":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","21":"tag-the-bronx-news","22":"tag-top-stories","23":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}