The shops and restaurants on Seventh Avenue used to have a "captive audience" attitude: you’re stuck out here so we can damn well be as nasty as we want, serve as lousy food as we want, sell what we want, and charge what we want.

It’s a whole new ballgame now. But that’s how it used to be.

I’m not naming name but there were quite a few nasty shopkeepers on Seventh Avenue back in the day. Some shops didn’t exactly have the vaunted "Customer is Always Right" ethos.  Wacky return policies, bad stock, unhelpful service: some of the stores were downright unpleasant.

It was a commonly held belief that Slopers didn’t spend their money on Seventh Avenue (except for books, groceries, toys, teacher gifts, etc.) They’d go into Manhattan to really buy. And I think this created a kind of  bitterness; the sense that nobody appreciated the shops nearby. The Clay Pot was always an exception: a home-grown business that Slopers always felt comfortable spending lots of money in.

But there wasn’t money then like there’s money now in Park Slope. In the past, a few brave souls tried to bring good food and merchandise to the nabe – but it rarely worked. There were all those doomed restaurants in the doomed restaurant spots. Before Yamato, there was one restaurant after another. Boom, boom, boom. For years and years. Same with the Maggie Moo spot. Years ago, tragedy struck there when a news dealer was shot and killed. And it’s been a doomed restaurant spot ever since.

On Seventh Avenue until fairly recently, there was no where to buy basic clothing items like nice jeans and t-shirts. For the most part, it was a desert here and everyone felt it. ‘Why don’t they open a Gap here?.’  was and still is a common question. Well, the answer is: there just isn’t the weekday street traffic to support it. That may not be true anymore: Aersoles and other national chains seem to be raking it in. Here’s hoping Seventh Avenue doesn’t become a "mall" of national chains.

The Slope was without decent food for so long that no one really considered going out for special dinners around here except to Cucina.

Well, Al Di La changed all that.

When someone does the history of the Park Slope/Fifth Avenue restaurant scene, they will probably point to the hour and the day that Al Di La opened their doors, and when a few weeks later they got the rave review in the Times.

Now, Park Slope seem to be the food capital of New York City, it’s where the adventurous, non-corporate restauranteurs want to be. There’s passion, there’s taste, there’s great talent out here now.

Who would have thunk it back in the day when Tutta Pasta, Snooky’s, Aunt Suzies, and Two Boots were the only games in town. But boy are there options now: 58 restaurants on Fifth Avenue. Sette, Miracle Grill, and Toast on Seventh Avenue.

Retail is also coming into it’s own now. There was a time when every store on Seventh Avenue was a cutsey gift shop or a real estate firm. There are still too many real estate places on Seventh. But who hasn’t noticed all the trendy, stylish, and smart retailers out here like Loom, Living on Seventh, Lolli, Bird, Baby Bird, Nest, Shangri La and more.

Fifth Avenue is filled with interesting shops like Matter, Diana Kane, Kinara, Nancy, Nancy, Scaredy Cat, Eidolan (one of the first quirky, home-grown retailers), Flirt, Goldy and Mac, and Romp, a very stylish, design-centric store for children’ s toys and furniture.

Not that there aren’t wonderful old-time Park Slope establishments. Little Things certainly fills the birthday party needs of the neighborhood and has the most comprehensive selection of Yuppie toys for miles. There’s the barber shop between 3rd and 4th Streets that seems to be loved by many. New Prospect certainly persists on  Flatbush with its 1970’s style healthy, comfort food. And Cousin John’s is an excellent, if excessively buttery bakery that’s been here forever. Community Books, in its latest incarnation with Catherine Bohne at the helm, is beloved. As is Soundtrack, which is owned by a born-and-bred Park Sloper, and has a good selection, is willing to order anything, and has prices that beat Virgin and Tower.

So I’m not knocking anything here. I’m just saying, I’m just saying.  There’s more money now which means the merchandise is higher quality, which means the shop keepers are a little more competitive, and the stakes are higher. Better for the shoppers of Park Slope, better fo the merchants. We’re not a captive audience anymore…

I’m just saying…