One of the long-held truths in New York real estate is that the city is woefully under-retailed.

Last year, Barbara Byrne Denham, an economist at REIS, crunched the numbers on retail sales data from the 2007 national economic census. What she discovered were some striking disparities between the outer boroughs and the rest of the country.

Residents in the four outer boroughs, she found, spent less on retail purchases than the average American, who shells out $8,344 a year on everything from new shoes to the latest tech gadgets.

Source: Retail development rises to meet growing, unmet demand