Chain Stores: Are Brooklynites Getting What They Deserve?

So, it took the arrival (and success) of an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) in Downtown Brooklyn for the newspapers to notice that Brooklyn has steadily been growing more and more attractive to national and international chain retailers -- NY Post "B'klyn is Making Chain-ge", Feb. 25, 2008.

Forgive us if we've heard this one before - Ikea, Fairway in Red Hook; Target, Daffys, Circuit City etc. at Atlantic Center, anyone? And, what about the furore about the retail spaces in the proposed Atlantic Yards development that seemed to have been designed with large, big-box retailers in mind?

Of course, the point is that whereas years ago there were few, if any, chain stores in the borough, they are cropping up all over the place these days. Mostly, it seems, due to the fact that the chain stores in Brooklyn are among the most profitable anywhere in the country. The article goes on to say that Borough President Marty Markowitz is negotiating with Apple to bring a new Apple Store to Brooklyn, perhaps in the ground floor of the Wiliiamsburgh Savings Bank.

Campaigners for local retailers will, no doubt, be up in arms about the advance of chains into Brooklyn, and others will say that, actually, there are small, local businesses opening up all the time in the borough, especially in historic (and protected) Victorian neighborhoods, where storefront widths make spaces less attractive to chains and formula businesses.

So, what's the answer? Is the borough simply moving towards an ideal, diverse mixture of chains and locally-owned stores, or is one on the rise at the expense of the other? How is real estate development in the borough affecting the retail mix? Indeed, if chain stores are so profitable in Brooklyn, there must be a market for their goods, so is it just a case of supply and demand?

What do you think? Are Brooklynites getting the retail they want (and deserve)? And if so, will chain stores kill-off the borough's small retailers and enforce rigid uniformity with the rest of the country on consumers? Or, is a diverse, lively mix of retail sizes and types possible? How could this be developed and maintained? Your thoughts, please.