For Manhattan's retail industry normal may never return

Brands and restaurants have decided the city's sky-high rents are just too expensive for them

• It's the worst I've seen': London's West End struggles to bounce back

On a damp and humid Thursday afternoon Manhattan's Union Square is looking sorry for itself. There's 73,000 sq ft of empty retail space up for grabs at 44 Union Square in the now boarded up neo-Georgian landmark that was once Tammany Hall. There's more space to rent on the opposite corner and the neighbouring thoroughfares, Broadway and Fifth Avenue, some of New York's retail arteries.