So says the Gotham Gazette, pointing out that we have managed to retain small, indie businesses and still attract the giants, who manage to peacefully co-exist; Home Ec and Ikea can thrive within a couple of miles of each other. The secret, they say, is “promoting a ‘my way’ kind of thing with its retail sector – big stores and small, chains and independents, ordinary and idiosyncratic, garish and subtle, high end and low, traditional ethnic, cool retail, small handicrafts, hip entertainment, etc. Statistically Brooklyn still looks ‘under-retailed’ compared to Manhattan, says The Real Deal, since Manhattan has 52.2 square feet of retail space per capita, and Brooklyn has only 10.8. But downtown Brooklyn and Williamsburg are starting to compete hard and successfully.” We’ve added 660,000 square feet in retail space in the last year, as opposed to 33,000 square feet in 2006. Nice to see such an optimistic view of the borough. Do you agree with it?
Brooklyn’s Retail Boom [Gotham Gazette]
Photo by threecee.