It’s the holiday season. Ho, ho, ho — indulge in luxury, excess, and expensive luxury.
Please refrain from reading “A Tale of Two Cities.” Blame the middle and upper classes for putting your heart and soul into the plight of the “disenfranchised,” the homeless, the criminal underclass, and the residents of NYC during this time.1,001 Please proceed to the explanation. Assumed greed.
Conspicuous consumption is great for those of us who pay 99% of our city taxes, enjoy a peaceful family life, and abide by the law. We are qualified to support the commercial renewal of the Big Apple.
Our retail environment can be a more tangible measure of a city’s social and economic health than dry statistics about crime, inflation, and housing shortages. Despite frequent rain, traffic jams and subway disruptions, that renewal is reflected in this bright holiday shopping season.
As you can see by visiting Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, and TJ Maxx, brick-and-mortar retailers have returned after years of lost business to at-home shopping.
The sparkling LED-powered snowflakes above 57th Street and Fifth Avenue symbolize the Renaissance. In fact, the hottest news in the Big Apple since March 2020 has been the boom in new store openings. Not pot shops or Dunkin’ Donuts (of which there are many), but the opening of new places for middle-income and more affluent shoppers. You can browse and purchase fashionable clothing, jewelry, home furnishings, and food.
Despite confusing predictions from economists and coronavirus-nostalgic urban prognosticators, the Big Apple’s brick-and-mortar retail scene is thriving anew despite the undeniable impact of home shopping. . Retail brokers said the market was “enthusiastic” and for the first time their optimism was grounded in reality.
This isn’t just happening on Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, 34th Street, and other historically busy shopping streets. Nor is it entirely upscale, as in the “high jewelry” department of the Van Cleef & Arpels boutique that just opened on Madison Avenue.
However, I admit that even if you don’t have a lot of money, feeling rich can make you feel good. I don’t need an Aston Martin like the ones on Park Avenue or East 57th Street right now, and I don’t have the means to buy one. But it’s nice to be able to look it up whenever you feel like it.
Nothing better demonstrates a city’s unparalleled ability to regenerate after tragedy than the light shining brightly on a part of the city that has long needed better stores. This trend is not a “trickle-down” trend, but a sideways trickle-down, where investments in adjacent neighborhoods drive improvements in neighboring neighborhoods.
Turn onto Broadway on the south side of City Hall. Three years ago, the city, reeling from pandemic lockdowns and the lingering economic fallout from 9/11, was home to mostly bank branches, pizza parlors and vacant storefronts.
Some of them remain. But now there’s also Zara, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, and Chinese toy store chain Miniso. French department store Printemps will soon open its first U.S. store at One Wall Street. Brooks Brothers plans to open its New York flagship store at 195 Fulton Street on Broadway.
Until a few years ago, Houston Street was mostly an eerie corridor lined with row houses, junk shops, and vacant lots from one end to the other. The experience has been transformed by Whole Foods, vintage and thrift store No Standing New York City, Russ & Daughters Cafe, and more.
The western end of Atlantic Avenue, a block that runs through Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and Boerum Hill, is filled with contemporary boutiques and grocery stores such as East Fork, Misha & Puff, and Paige Sargusson.
This corridor was once known for its small antique shops and Arab grocery stores. Their decline in numbers reflects evolution rather than loss of local character. The area, like many others, attracted new residents who rented or bought apartments in new buildings and sought better shopping and services.
A similar phenomenon is occurring in Harlem, but new shopping options include more national chain stores. Local residents have long suffered from weak retail investment. In recent years, West 125th Street has attracted popular stores such as Whole Foods, Marshalls, Victoria’s Secret, Banana Republic, and more recently Target and Trader Joe’s.
The number of flaming merchants enraged by “gentrification” far outnumbers the locals who happily flock to their stores.
New York City has more problems than most of us can count. But we can eradicate the plague of vacant storefronts, most of which are left off the list and underutilized. Even when you’re fighting the crowd, that’s something to celebrate, and at the end of the day, that’s the best news of all.
scuozzo@nypost.com
