On a recent afternoon, a newly opened shop that combines neatly lined shelves of flat cans that resemble a library looked out of place near M&M’s, Hershey’s and Krispy Kreme flagships in Times Square.

Still, The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine, which wasn’t even selling a sweet American treat, stopped curious tourists. The store, the concept’s first in the United States, stocks fancy souvenir tins of fish that cost from about $15 to $44 apiece.

As Times Square, the famed Manhattan tourist and entertainment hub, continues its recovery from the ghost town days and fallout from the pandemic, many new brick-and-mortar retail sites often reflect the global makeup of the foot traffic the area is known for.

The idea of Times Square as the "Crossroads of the World" isn't new, of course, but the pandemic and the resulting lower rents helped make it possible for a variety of businesses to test an outpost on the site. The influence of foreign retailers has grown so much that the Times Square Alliance, a business improvement group representing the district, has begun measuring it.

The sardine shop is just one foreign brand to open there since the pandemic; the list includes Filipino fast food restaurant Jollibee, Arabian Oud fragrances and Chinese variety store chain Miniso. For tourists who don't care for sardines as their seafood of choice, famed British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has a namesake Fish & Chips restaurant in the neighborhood.

And Tamashii Nations, billed as Japan’s No. 1 collectibles brand and owned by toy and video game giant Bandai Namco, recently signed a 1,324-square-foot lease at 1500 Broadway between 43rd and 44th streets, according to brokerage CBRE, which represented the landlord.

The improvement has been gradual, and there's no guarantee it will continue. But the area is finding that, for now, it has a global reach that's helping demand.

International visitors are big business in New York, and though it's only 0.1% of the city’s land area, Times Square generates 15% of its economic output, according to the Times Square Alliance.

Those foreign travelers generally spend about twice the amount per visit, compared with the average international visitor to the United States. That's according to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office, citing data from global travel and tourism analytics firm Tourism Economics.

Visitors from China posted record spending for three straight years between 2017 and 2019, with each traveler from that country spending an average of $3,000, almost 60% higher than the average for all international visitors.

“Why not sardines?” Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, said in an interview. “Times Square has something for everyone. We’ve been seeing an increase in international businesses.”

There isn't another shop in Times Square quite like The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine, with its brightly colored cans arranged from floor to ceiling in a circus-like atmosphere.

About a quarter of Times Square’s retail businesses are international, Harris said, adding the alliance didn’t have comparable tracking before the pandemic. Newcomers, both domestic and foreign, are “taking advantage of” the current market, including the area’s decline in asking rent like many other parts of the city, he said.

Landlords and brokers “become more realistic in the asking price that’s causing the deals to close,” Harris told CoStar News. They are “starting to make deals.”

In fact, more stores have opened in Times Square than closed since the pandemic began, Harris said. With the recent debut of popular Brooklyn ice cream seller Van Leeuwen at 2 Times Square, which also houses The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine, 180 new retail stores have opened, which is one more than the 179 that closed, he said.

The Times Square Alliance tracks leases in the area from 40th Street to 53rd Street and between Sixth Avenue and Eighth Avenue, Harris said. The group also monitors so-called Restaurant Row on 46th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues.

“International businesses have demonstrated a strong track record in Times Square, which has resulted in momentum for lease size and demand within the submarket — a great indication for the area’s overall stability,” Gabriel Staab, an associate at Newmark who represented Comur Corp., the operator of the sardine emporium at the intersection of 48th Street and Broadway, said in a statement.

CBRE’s Henry Rossignol, who represented the landlord in the Tamashii Nations lease, said in a separate statement that Times Square is “the perfect location” to introduce the collectibles brand to the New York market in an “initial short-term deal” because of the label’s “expanding popularity and international presence.”

Times Square isn’t alone in seeing a shake-up in tenant demand, driven in part by lower rents. Manhattan’s overall retail market has shown improving signs, but rents are still “well below pre-pandemic peaks,” industry lobbying group the Real Estate Board of New York said in a report published in July.

Asking rent in the spring was at least 30% below the peak in 13 of the 17 Manhattan retail corridors it tracks, REBNY said. “More landlords are accepting that the rent levels of 2016 and 2017 are nowhere in sight,” it said.

Indeed, in Times Square on Broadway and Seventh Avenue between 42nd and 47th streets, the average price per square foot this spring, based on seven availabilities, declined about 12% to $980 from $1,112 a year earlier and was down almost 60% from an all-time high of $2,413 in spring 2015, according to the REBNY study.

The opening of The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine and other shops reflects the transformation of Times Square, just as the broader retail market has changed in the age of Amazon and increased online shopping. Consumers increasingly have pivoted to what’s often called experiential retail, industry analysts have said, where interacting with products in physical spaces is an attraction.

“There’s been a shift” in Times Square because of “the Amazon factor,” Harris told CoStar News. The retail market “has adapted to that. We are seeing more food [merchants]. People want to come for the experience. We have a lot of unique offerings for that. We have the experiential retail.”

The REBNY study echoed the point that food and beverage retailers have been “active” in Times Square as it noted the fashion and entertainment sector was still “holding back” with the area still facing challenges “filling some of the larger spaces.”

Still, Times Square has shown a resurgence when it comes to attracting visitors. The weekly pedestrian foot traffic average has recovered to just 10% to 15% below pre-pandemic levels, with some days even exceeding, Harris told CoStar News.

For example, the week that ended Aug. 13 averaged about 340,000 people per day, down about 15% from 2019, a spokesperson for the alliance told CoStar News in an email, adding there were also a number of days when foot traffic topped 400,000. Average Times Square foot traffic in 2019 was 365,000 per day, the spokesperson said.

While overall foot traffic may still be down double digits, the alliance said Times Square retail spending in the second quarter totaled $785 million, just 5% short of the comparable 2019 level. Hotel spending has exceeded pre-pandemic performance by 1%, while restaurant spending was just 2% below, and merchandise spending only 0.3% shy.

International spending, hurt by the slow return of tourists from China because of travel restrictions in that country, fell 3% to $161 million in the second quarter from the level in 2019 but rose 14% from the 2022 level, according to the alliance. Canadian tourists spent 24% more than they did pre-pandemic, the alliance said, “cushioning” the soft Chinese spending.

“Historically international travelers come and stay longer and spend more,” Harris said. “Some portions of the international travel are missing. We see a slow return of people from China.”

New York City Tourism + Conventions, the tourism arm previously known as NYC & Co., has forecast the city will attract 63.3 million visitors this year, just 5% shy of the 2019 level of 66.6 million. By next year, the count is expected to top the pre-pandemic mark, rising to 69.6 million. The international traveler count is expected to reach 11 million by the end of this year, 10% shy of the 2019 level of 13.5 million. That number also is expected to top 2019 next year.

“The return of outbound group travel from China to the United States is very welcome news,” Fred Dixon, president and CEO of NYC Tourism + Conventions, said in a recent statement, referring to the news of China lifting a national ban. “This is a critical step forward in the market’s eventual comeback.”

While tourists from China haven’t fully returned yet, Miniso, the Chinese retailer selling toys, trinkets and other merchandise, has found the benefit of embracing Times Square since opening its store earlier this year. With over 5,500 global locations, Miniso said recently the 5 Times Square shop had “shattered” its previous sales numbers and set new records for both first-day and first-month sales among its fleet.

The chain billed as a lifestyle brand said it’s on track to have over 100 stores in the United States across 28 states by the end of this year.

In addition to Staab, Newmark Vice Chairman Ariel Schuster and Senior Managing Director Ross Berkowitz represented The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine in the Times Square lease. Maki Yamamoto of ARBA-L New York represented Tamashii Nations in lease negotiations. Along with Rossignol, CBRE’s Anthony Stanford worked with ownership, Tamares Real Estate Holdings, in that deal.