Musician Aleksandar Torovic, who harks from Belgrade originally, lived and worked as a musician in LA for ten years but moved to Brooklyn because “I was looking for a change of seasons,” he told me.

He plans to get back into the music in Brooklyn but for now is enjoying his brand new stint as the owner of a woman’s clothing store.

“I like making someone look good for not a lot of money. They’ll come back because they look better. Everybody wins,” he said.

The shop, which opened two days ago, currently has a nice variety of cotton sundresses and skirts for under $80. Torovic and his partner designed the space on a shoe string with lots of style. They plan to have an opening party and possibly some musical events coming up.

What could be better – clothing store by day, musical salon in the evening? For now, Torovic will be serenading shoppers with his guitar. It certainly adds to the atmosphere of his tiny clothing shop.

Just a guess.

Lulu Cuts and Toys, which started on Fifth Avenue and 2nd Street, is really building herself an empire on that northern end of Fifth Avenue.

Sign of the times, I guess.

The new Petco will be on Seventh Avenue between Union and Berkeley Place.

But what exactly is a swap?

Well, you bring items you want to get rid of and, for a small admission fee, you can take home whatever you want.

Okay.

More than 1,600 showed up last year. This year they’re adding an electronics boutique run by Alpha One Labs and a crafts section managed by Etsy.

My pick for this week’s Vendor of the week is: Hammeronsteel: Hot iron & Forged Steel Elements for the Home. They make earring stands, bottle openers, lamps and more. Here’s what they have to say on their website.

Hot steel moves me. So I move hot steel.

Every object I produce is one of a kind, and while there may be some thematic similarities, no two pieces are ever exactly alike. I take great pleasure from creating custom work, so please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have something in mind that you don’t find here.

Logo and Slogan Contest: Just a few more days left in the BID’s logo and slogan design contest. Help rebrand the organization and avenue and win prizes:

FIRST PRIZE: $1,000. SECOND PRIZE: $300. THIRD PRIZE: $100. Submit all entries by email to ParkSlope5AVBID@aol.com by April 5, 2010.

Fifth Avenue Family Festival: Puppetry Arts and the Park Slope 5th Avenue BID are teaming up to bring a
new family event to the neighborhood filled with crafts, games and giveaways. The 5th Avenue Family Festival will be hosted on 4th Street at 5th Ave next to the Old Stone House on Saturday April 24 from 11am-4pm.
Games, Food, Fun…and Free!

Films on Fifth 2010: The Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District is hosting “Films
on Fifth” from April 30 – May 9th. There will 20 films shown in 10 days in restaurants, bars and boutiques along the avenue. Stay tuned for details! Oh, and if you are a film maker or know one, there are still some slots left
to fill. Please drop off three copies of each film at Aunt Suzie’s Restaurant (247-5th Ave, Between Carroll & Garfield) to be considered.

And don’t forget:

Fabulous Fifth Avenue Fair: Save the Date: Sunday, May 16th!

No books. Only shoes.

Once inside, however, it’s the same old store. Books, books, and more books. The shopkeepers are wearing funny hats that say April Fools.

No kidding.

Summer Stage: The Flea is also taking over the food and beverage concession at the City Parks Foundation’s Central Park SummerStage concert series, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Five popular Flea food vendors—AsiaDog, Blue Marble Ice Cream, Pizza Moto, Red Hook Lobster Pound, and Soler pupusas—will join renowned Brooklyn butcher shop Marlow & Daughters to provide delicious, fresh, affordable, and distinctive meals and snacks, with the goal of establishing SummerStage as a top entertainment and culinary destination. Flea food will be available at all 40+ SummerStage events from late May through early October.

Fort Greene: In 2010, the Fort Greene outdoor market will feature an expanded food section, with 25+ vendors of prepared and cooked food. All unique to the Flea, all local, and all curated for quality and professionalism, these vendors have come to embody the Brooklyn artisanal food movement. Newcomers this season include Porchetta (the East Village Italian pork sandwich shop); The Good Fork (the Red Hook restaurant serves dumplings at the Flea); Salvatore Bklyn’s new imported olive oil (the ricotta makers will dispense their new house brand from a giant metal “fusto”); The Good Batch’s Dutch-style stroopwafels; Brooklyn Soda Works (carbonated beverages featuring 50%+ juice); and new Boerum Hill Montreal-style delicatessen Mile End (hand-slicing smoked salmon and sable with Ben’s cream cheese and fresh Montreal sesame and poppy bagels).

One Hanson: One Hanson market will continue to take over the gorgeous landmark bank space every Sunday, with 100+ vendors, including several top new vintage clothing, antiques, and furniture dealers, who prefer the indoor setting. Starting April 11, the market will spill over to the building’s back parking lot, where 25 vendors, including food, will be located, along with table seating and music to create a unique indoor-outdoor setting. (The main bank space is easily accessible from the parking lot.)

Both markets will feature dozens of new vendors for the launch of the new season—from antique rugs to stitched owls to starfish jewelry to Brooklyn watches to Swedish clogs to Mr. Potato Heads to a Greenpoint used-record shop.

As reported in Racked NY and the Brooklyn Bugle, Barneys CO-OP is coming to Atlantic Avenue between Court and Clinton right next door to  Trader Joe’s, near Urban Outfitters and across the street from Brooklyn originals, Sahadi’s and Damascus Bakery. Soon the western end of Atlantic will lead to an entrance of Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Barneys New York is a chain of luxury department stores based in New York City. The chain owns large stores in New York City, Beverly Hills, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Scottsdale, and smaller stores in other locations across the United States.

It’s fancy fancy. Brands sold include Giorgio Armani, Manolo Blahnik, Fendi, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Jil Sander, Dries van Noten, Diane von Furstenberg, and Ermenegildo Zegna, as well as Barneys private label.

Barneys CO-OP is designed for the younger and hipper crowd with an emphasis on beauty products, bags, jewelry, shoes and clothing by young designers. It originally began as a department within the larger Barneys New York stores, but is now a freestanding store located throughout the US. CO-OP stores average around 8,000 square feet.

Here’s the “abstract” of the story which is all I could get from the New Yorker website. To read more you’ve got to read the magazine or have a subscription to Newyorker.com

In terms of square miles, Brooklyn is New York’s second-largest borough, after Queens; in terms of population, it is first. If Brooklyn were a city, it would be the fourth most populous in the United States. If Brooklyn were a country, its chief exports would include artisanal pickles, eco-friendly yoga wear, Red Hook Saipua soap, and books written by men named Jonathan. Writer surveys a number of Brooklyn neighborhoods. Park Slope is where parents recently won the right to bring kids in strollers into a local bar. Mentions Beacon’s Closet. Fort Greene (a designated historic district) is “an urban fantasyland” with some superb shops: Stuart & Wright, Cloth, and Marcus Malchijah’s hat studio as well as the Brooklyn Flea. Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill is now one of the best shopping districts in town, with such stores as Eva Gentry, Darr, Hollander and Lexer, Layla, Annie’s Blue Ribbon General Store, and the Acorn, a toy shop. In Carroll Gardens, there is a remarkable degree of D.I.Y. cottage industry going on. Writer mentions Caputo’s mozzarella (made fresh hourly), Cozbi Cabrera’s linen dolls, Ruby Moriarty (where clothes and other oddities can be bought alongside occasional performance-art shows), Proteus Gowanus, and Swallow, a gallery on Smith Street. In Williamsburg, cheap frame houses suggest a New England mill town, but hipsters can no longer afford the rent. Writer mentions C.B. I Hate Perfume, The Future Perfect, Moon River Chattel, Honey, Sweet William, Malin Landaeus, Fille de Joie and Red Pearl. In Greenpoint, the new destination for hipsters, writer mentions Alter and Pip-Squeak Chapeau. In Dumbo, there is hand-crafted chocolate at Jacques Torres Chocolate, Danish furniture at Baxter and Liebchen, and prewar and mid-century Czech avant-garde furniture at Prague Kolektiv. In Red Hook, writer mentions Erie Basin. Brooklyn boosters will swear everything is a short walk from the subway, but don’t believe them. Get a car.