New York City's tenacious retail marketplace prevails

New York remains a shopping paradise and positive antidote to the nation's woes. We hold our own as an economic anomaly because of our international standing and a diverse shopping base of locals and tourists. Despite daily prognostications by media on how many stores and national chains are closing, 2008 has so far signified a robust year for New York retail, heralding the advent of "affordable chic" retailers that hail from countries around the world. Topshop from London is big news with its first U.S. outpost to debut at 473 Broadway. This trend also includes H&M, Zara, MNG by Mango and Bebe. Fifth Avenue saw the likes of this sector with Juicy Couture opening a deluxe duplex emporium on 52nd St. and Diesel moving into the former Gucci space at 54th St. Down(town) is Up At this juncture, none of the major shopping districts in Manhattan reflect the current national trends and in Meatpacking and Soho, business has been booming with international designers. Italy's Braccialini opened at 436 West Broadway. Munich-based Bogner set up at 380 West Broadway. Swedish label Acne acquired 10 Greene St., Breil has its first U.S. boutique at 148 Spring and Glory Chen moved into 121 Greene. The new lineup this year included Supima, Kidrobot Pirate Store, Custo Barcelona, Seven For All Mankind, Belenky Brothers, Kisan Inc, Y-3, Rock & Republic, and Rosa Cha. Meatpacking mirrored the Soho action-Matthew Williamson from the UK at 413 West 14th St., near Zadig et Voltaire. Deluxe designer Moschino is at 401 West 14th St., Solstice appeared at Ninth Avenue and 14th St., and Tory Burch took the corner store at Little West 12th St., adjacent to Vince, 833 Washington St. As a sure sign that Meatpacking is really cooking, Barney's is returning to its downtown roots by leasing two adjacent buildings to combine 439 West 13th St. and 832 Washington St. Whether this newest outpost will have the same bounce and funkiness as the original 17th St. digs remains to be seen. But one thing we can all count on, it will be an absolute destination for the well-heeled denizens of Downtown! Movin' on Up In third quarter alone, we saw new stores leasing on the East and West sides, Midtown to Uptown, with some already open and some coming soon. Along Madison Ave., Shanghai Tang relocated to number 600, Ralph Lauren took over yet another townhouse at the southwest corner of 72nd St., Carat found a new place to sparkle at 509, Judith Ripka's "palace" reopened at 673 and Anne Fontaine opened its monolithic new flagship down the street at 677 Madison Ave. The West Side continues to boom, with the Columbus Ave. retail corridor 98% occupied and joined by such high-profile newcomers as West Coast designer eyeglass chain SEE at 207 Columbus Ave., furniture emporium West Elm is opening at 15 Central Park West, the Apple Store is taking over the former Victoria's Secret building on Broadway at 67th St. and Spanish chain Zara is positioning its new flagship at 1963 Broadway in the multi-level space that was once Tower Records. New York, especially Manhattan, is holding its own for the time being. Our greatest concern for now is the anticipation of an increase in vacated bank space, much of which is coming back to the market in the near future. However, it is very likely many of the apparel chains that were edged out of choice locations by the banks in the last three years will be up for some of those super desirable corners. The reality of the economy is that over the next several months, there will be inevitable losses, but there will also be plenty of gains Our history in New York City is that the retail landscape always adapts to economic trends. I am confident that retail in New York will prevail once again. Faith Hope Consolo is the chairman of the Retail Leasing and Sales Division at Prudential Douglas Elliman, New York, N.Y.