New York | Small Business Inquiries
 

Up a little further North, and a little further West in the Vancouver, BC Canada forums we were discussing and speculating on how small businesses seemed to be able to thrive in NYC despite its land shortage driving up rents and commercial space expenses.

Firstly I just want to double check to see if we had the right impression of NYC's small business scene being very open to small business startups?

Secondly I was wondering if small business startups (say a restaurant) that require commercial space struggle to find space or afford commercial space costs?

Lastly I was also wondering in the case of an older building being replaced by a taller building (with commercial space on ground level); what would happen to the small business occupying the older building? Does the small business just move to another commercial opportunity or is there a city policy that encourages the new developer to reimburse the small business in any way?

I know that comparing Canadian cities to American cities can sometimes be similar to comparing apples to oranges. However as Vancouver grows denser and taller, I find that the newer buildings are only attracting larger chain businesses and that the small businesses are pushed out of the core of the city. I understand that this phenomena is not anything new but I do think that New York's small business scene is certainly very predominant in the core and I was wondering if there were any city policies that were partly responsible for maintaining their presence.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated!