StreetLevel: Soula Hoofs Over to 5th Ave
Smith Street’s fancy shoe emporium Soula has opened a new branch on Fifth Avenue, between Berkeley and Degraw. The shop is the third that we know of to test its mettle on Smith before opening a storefront on Fifth Ave, joining 20-something clothier Something Else and women’s boutique Flirt. It seems that where Smith Street…
Smith Street’s fancy shoe emporium Soula has opened a new branch on Fifth Avenue, between Berkeley and Degraw. The shop is the third that we know of to test its mettle on Smith before opening a storefront on Fifth Ave, joining 20-something clothier Something Else and women’s boutique Flirt. It seems that where Smith Street leads, Fifth Avenue follows. Which thoroughfare do you hit up to get your (retail) kicks? GMAP
5:24 PM
You’re not reading the viewpoints of most New Yorkers. Your reading the viewpoints of a priveleged few who have the money for an expensive townhouse and yearn for a pseudo-suburban life. It isn’t rational, but it is understandable. The real problem is people aren’t able to separate what they personally DESIRE from what is fair and just for society at large.
Soula shoes are expensive. Most pairs start at $200 and go up from there. The selection is not varied, many of the styles are similiar, and in my opinion, not very attractive.
It IS filling a retail void, since 7 years ago 5th avenue and smith street were filled with row upon row of empty storefronts, 99 cent stores and homeless people.
I find it odd that some of the posters on this board and many of the people I meet from day to day choose to live in the most populous borough in the most heavily populated city in the US. It seems to me that a fair percentage of Brooklyn’s population longs for an unchanging hamlet, as quiet as a monastery and free of cars. I mean, it IS a city, no? Aren’t noise, chaos and crowds typical of a city? Isn’t NYC still the “city that never sleeps”?
I popped into this store over the weekend (Smith St location). Some good sneakers, but the casual shoes were rather typical for Brooklyn: Teva-like mandals and the sort of shoes waiters might choose for comfort over fashion. Not exactly filling a retail void, IMHO.
I want to go buy some shoes there tonight.
Apparently I’m going to need multiple pairs trying to dodge all of the AY traffic.
Can we talk more about the shoes? They look so lonely on those big, nearly empty shelves. Won’t somebody, please, think of the shoes?
75% of people coming to the arena will be taking mass transit.
how often have you driven your car (if you have one) to Madison Square?
Try once and then never again.
Drive on the expressway to the Arena??? For most people in Brooklyn, that is far out of their way. Look at a map. Jeez.
People who drive to the Arena will drive around and around and around and around and around looking for a place to park. You think they won’t drive on 5th Ave? Why not? And if you think everybody driving to the Arena is going to take the BQE, you clearly know very little about Brooklyn street geography.
Last I checked, Broadway in Soho was a rather miserable place to shop, especially on the weekends. But I guess that’s because I don’t like huffing exhaust and I don’t like weaving my way through automobile gridlock when crossing the street and I don’t care for the constant blare of honking horns in my ear.
If you only stay on the sidewalk when you’re shopping, I guess you’re just walking around in a circle all the time. Kind of like the way those cars headed for the AY arena are going to be driving around and around and around in circles in Fort Green, Prospect Heights, Park Slope and Gowanus, looking for a place to park…
As for liking it that increasingly the same stores everywhere — well, to each their own.