Business Survivability in Gowanus, New York City
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Gowanus is a Convenience Store with a 84.6% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.
Quick Summary
- Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
- Best business: a Convenience Store in Gowanus (84.6% Typical, 90.4% Best)
- Neighborhood rank: #39 of 180 neighborhoods in and around New York City
- Neighborhood average: 67.2% two-year survival across the business types ranked here
- Coverage: This ranking carries one row per business type and neighborhood. Its score is the projected chance of lasting two or more years, averaged across the price points StreetSpring scores separately in the tool (most types have 5). The 10 business types here are base types; the tool offers 500+ business types, counting each type at each of its price points.
- Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data
- Detailed methodology
Last reviewed: November 2026 by Robert Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring
In this article:
- Summary
- Is Gowanus a good place to start a business?
- How to find the best location
- Best businesses to open
- How much money could a business make?
- What businesses should open next?
- Frequently Asked Questions
Summary
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Gowanus is a Convenience Store with a 84.6% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, and 90.4% Best; next is a Clothing Store with 90.4% Best, followed by a Bar with 89.6% Best.
Is Gowanus a good place to start a business?
Gowanus holds the #39 position of 180 neighborhoods in and around New York City for new business survivability, with an average score of 67.2% across the business types ranked there.
- For the top-ranked business type, 90.4% Best is 5.8 points above 84.6% Typical in Gowanus.
- However, these same business types at the worst locations in Gowanus can sometimes provide a projected Survivability Score considerably below the average. Thus, even the businesses that are most in need in Gowanus could have trouble succeeding if the best location is not selected.
- A 92.6% employment rate in Gowanus means a large share of local consumers have steady income: a strong underlying condition for discretionary spending businesses.
Employment and housing vacancy figures sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
How can you find the best location to open a business in Gowanus?
StreetSpring's address-level analysis reveals which specific storefronts in Gowanus offer the strongest survivability odds for your business type. According to StreetSpring's 2026 data, this is the optimal address for a Convenience Store in Gowanus:
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis of hundreds of location-specific factors, this area offers the highest projected survivability for a Convenience Store in Gowanus. Market conditions, new competitors, and local spending patterns can change rapidly: always verify with StreetSpring's live tool before signing a lease. Factors evaluated include competition at every distance band, consumer spending forecasts, mobility patterns, and market share projections.
Check if this location is still available →
What are the best businesses to open in Gowanus?
| Rank | Business type | Best | Typical | Worst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Convenience Store | 90.4% | 84.6% | 78.8% |
| 2 | Clothing Store | 90.4% | 83.9% | 78.1% |
| 3 | Bar | 89.6% | 80.6% | 74.4% |
| 4 | Laundromat | 88.8% | 82.1% | 76.6% |
| 5 | Cafe | 87.2% | 75.7% | 68.4% |
| 6 | Gym | 86.5% | 74.6% | 66.6% |
| 7 | Hair Salon | 85.8% | 74.3% | 66.3% |
| 9 | Veterinary Clinic | 85.3% | 78.4% | 71.5% |
| 10 | Chiropractor Office | 84.9% | 78.2% | 71.5% |
| 11 | Dentist Office | 81.8% | 75.4% | 69.1% |
Best and Worst are the average results for the better and the worse of two addresses picked at random in the place: a weighted average of every scored location in which the best locations count the most for Best and the weakest count the most for Worst. Typical is the average address. Best is shown for a smaller space (half the standard size) and Worst for a larger one (half again as large), at the metro's median asking rent, using the same rent rule as our tool; Typical is at the market rent.
The rank column is the published file's rank within this place; a skipped number is a business type the file ranks here that this list leaves out to keep any one business family from filling it.
Highest Survivability in Gowanus
- #1 Opening a Convenience Store in Gowanus shows 84.6% Typical survivability, 90.4% Best and 78.8% Worst.
- #2 Clothing Store (Ranked #2): 83.9% Typical in Gowanus. Best: 90.4%. Worst: 78.1%.
- #3 Bar is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Gowanus: 80.6% Typical, 89.6% Best, 74.4% Worst.
- #4 Laundromat: 82.1% Typical across Gowanus; Best 88.8%, Worst 76.6%.
- #5 Opening a Cafe in Gowanus shows 75.7% Typical survivability, 87.2% Best and 68.4% Worst.
Strong Performers in Gowanus
- #6 Gym (Ranked #6): 74.6% Typical in Gowanus. Best: 86.5%. Worst: 66.6%.
- #7 Hair Salon is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in Gowanus: 74.3% Typical, 85.8% Best, 66.3% Worst.
- #9 Veterinary Clinic: 78.4% Typical across Gowanus; Best 85.3%, Worst 71.5%.
- #10 Opening a Chiropractor Office in Gowanus shows 78.2% Typical survivability, 84.9% Best and 71.5% Worst.
- #11 Dentist Office (Ranked #11): 75.4% Typical in Gowanus. Best: 81.8%. Worst: 69.1%.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Convenience Store: See how this compares to other cities →
- Clothing Store: See how this compares to other cities →
- Bar: See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Gowanus make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, going with one of the top-scoring locations in the neighborhood rather than an average one in Gowanus starts with the Revenue Capture Score, the most important factor in choosing a location: StreetSpring's estimate of the revenue a business can capture at that address.
How StreetSpring calculates location value
- The right address for one business type may be the wrong one for another: always evaluate fit for your specific concept.
- Location is the part of survivability you can measure in advance: the concept, the pricing and the operator are yours to judge.
- The Revenue Capture Score is the most important factor in choosing a location: it is StreetSpring's estimate of the revenue a business can capture at that address.
- StreetSpring scores survivability down to the exact storefront location.
What businesses should open next in Gowanus?
The top businesses to open next in Gowanus:
- Convenience Stores: 84.6% Typical, 90.4% Best
- Clothing Stores: 83.9% Typical, 90.4% Best
- Bars: 80.6% Typical, 89.6% Best
Market conditions, new competitors, and local spending patterns can change rapidly: always verify with StreetSpring's live tool before signing a lease. Our analysis covers every major metro in the country: 24 cities and 180 million++ consumers. StreetSpring scores 500+ business types: 153 base business types, most of them at 5 price points, which is 569 type-and-price combinations you can choose in the tool. The survivability rankings for Gowanus draw on real Census conditions, including 92.6% employment and 7.2% housing vacancy, alongside competition and consumer spending. Survivability scores are live, not static: StreetSpring updates them regularly. Visit the tool to see what's currently available in Gowanus and how each address is scoring right now.
See the Survivability Score for your new business
Related Articles:
- See the New York City Business Survivability Rankings
- See the New York City Neighborhood Survivability Rankings
- Explore Convenience Store survivability across New York City neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Gowanus.
What type of business should you rent your Gowanus storefront to?
StreetSpring's 2026 model places Convenience Stores, Clothing Stores, and Bars at the top of the survivability rankings for Gowanus, making them the safest long-term tenant bets for landlords here.
- Location is the part of survivability you can measure in advance: the concept, the pricing and the operator are yours to judge.
- StreetSpring scores survivability down to the exact storefront location. StreetSpring's tool, free for a 10-minute trial, lets you check the survivability score for any business type at any address in Gowanus: a powerful filter when evaluating prospective tenants.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in New York City Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Gowanus storefront to a Convenience Store?
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, a Convenience Store ranks as the top tenant type for your Gowanus storefront: 90.4% Best and 78.8% Worst.
- StreetSpring scores survivability down to the exact storefront location.
What should I consider when opening a business in Gowanus?
Before committing to any location in Gowanus, the highest-priority metric to check is the Survivability Score: it encodes every relevant location factor into a single, actionable number.
- Revenue Capture is where competition meets spending, and it's the number that matters most when choosing a location.
- StreetSpring's proprietary algorithms power these predictions.
- Start a free 10-minute trial on StreetSpring to see the current survivability score for any address in Gowanus.
See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.
Our analysis covers businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans across 24 major US metros. Aggregated survivability rankings for New York City are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
Full dataset for New York City: /resources/data/new-york-city-survivability-scores-2026.csv: includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.