(Associated Press)

Sushil Cheema reports:

In health-conscious, trans-fat-banning New York City, which retail chain is the city’s most prevalent?

That prize goes to Dunkin’ Donuts. The purveyor of donuts, coffee and sandwiches has a total of 341 stores throughout the five boroughs, according to a report issued last week by The Center for an Urban Future, a think tank focused on improving the welfare of the city’s low-income and working-class neighborhoods.

The survey, called “New York by the Numbers”, looked at more than 150 city retailers. A majority of them are national chains, but a few are local ones. It also includes a borough-by-borough breakdown.

Food outlets topped the list. Subway came in second with 335 stores, and McDonald’s came in third with 248 stores. Starbucks, the seemingly ubiquitous coffee chain, is fourth, with 235 stores, a large majority of which are in Manhattan. Local drug store chain, Duane Reade, rounded out the top five with 216 stores.

“Companies that have dominated the discussion of driving out mom and pop stores are big box stores like Costco, Home Depot and Target,” said Jonathan Bowles, the center’s Director.” You hear more about those than about Dunkin’ Donuts. But in the grand scheme of things, big boxes have relatively small numbers.”

What surprised Bowles most was that Starbucks did not take the number one spot. “Anyone in Manhattan encounters four to five Starbucks on their way to work or on their way home,” he said. He did note, however, that Starbucks beats out Dunkin’ Donuts in Manhattan alone; 186 stores for Starbucks compared to 78 for Dunkin’.

Bowles said the Center for an Urban Future decided to gather the data due to concerns about the city’s small businesses. “It’s useful data about economic trends and the influx of national retailers,” he said. “We wanted to provide some data to add to that discussion.”

In gathering the information, Bowles said his team contacted company representatives for help but mainly relied on the online store locator for each company. Over three months, the team typed in New York City’s zip codes to gather the data.

Readers, do these findings surprise you?