Long Island has how many shops? Explain this to me

I do not want a lecture, I want an explanation. There are a lot of people out here. There are a lot of towns out here. And yet what I can find within a reasonable drive is a very short list, and my brother in law upstate has better options than I do, which makes no sense to me on population alone. I have heard people blame the towns, I have heard people blame the paperwork, and I have heard people blame the courts. Those are three different stories and I would like to know which one is actually doing the work here, or if it is all three stacked up. Somebody who has followed this closely, walk me through it in plain language. I am good at understanding things, I am bad at reading filings.