In the past few weeks, Park Slope’s latest national chain store joined Rite Aid, Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, Radio Shack, Subway, Haggen Daz, Maggie Moo and Starbucks on Seventh Avenue.

Aersoles.

A friend put it well, "That’s the kind of place I go to in a mall. it’s a great shoe shop and all but it doesn’t belong on Seventh Avenue."

I have to agree. In the past, stores like this didn’t stand a chance in the Slope. Years back there was a United Colors of Benetton on Seventh Avenue, which shut its doors fairly promptly due to a lack of weekday pedestrian street traffic. 

Well, clearly things have changed. It seems that the neighborhood can now support these big names. Soon the only kinds of shops that will be able to afford the ridiculous rents on Seventh Avenue will be national chains. Scary, huh? Well get ready for the malling of Seventh Avenue. It’s already begun.

What next? McDonalds?

Fortunately Seventh Avenue still has its own perculiar charms: old timers like Community Books, Lisa Polansky, Second Street Cafe, City Casuals, Clay Pot, and Sound Track manage to keep on keeping on. And newcomers like Loom, Bird, Living on Seventh and Nest have added lots of style and content. Sure, some of the old shops are quirky, crowded, expensive, and not always comprehensive in what they have to offer, but they’re OURS. And we love them.   

Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB