Northern and Central Brooklyn neighborhoods, such as East Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, Flatbush and Bed-Stuy were among the city’s most active areas for proposed and already-existing retail stores during the past year, according to the Real Estate Board of New York’s (REBNY) recently-released Brooklyn Retail Report for 2024.

This is partially because these places already have the “essentials” that attract both residents and retailers, such as existing grocery stores, health services, good schools, child care services and more. And new residential developments attract new retailers.

This is only one of the many trends noted in the report, which analyzes not only retail activity in Brooklyn as a whole but also 17 commercial corridors throughout the borough — mainly in Northern Brooklyn; DUMBO and Downtown Brooklyn; brownstone neighborhoods such as Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Park Slope, and Bay Ridge.

As far as types of businesses are concerned, the most active area in the borough, according to REBNY, is the food and beverage sector. “There is no shortage of coffee shops and quick-service restaurants opening stores,” the report says. Fashion, wellness and beauty are also active here, the report says.

Brooklyn is known as a trend-setter, and that is why new business entrepreneurs open up here to “test their product’s appeal” even as large national retailers, such as drugstore chains, are closing many of their outlets.