A review of Manhattan retail neighborhoods from East to West.

For the New Year, I'm offering an overview of New York neighborhoods. Not all, but those that have, during the last year or so, begun a new cycle of growth and development, sometimes completely altering their personalities.

To begin with, Chelsea. It encompasses the blocks from 14th Street to 29th Street, from Fifth Avenue to the Hudson River. It is presently, the newest and most stimulating art district in the city. There care at least 170 galleries, if not more, between Tenth and Twelfth Avenues. The area also includes the famous Chelsea Hotel, the Chelsea Piers and Equestrian Center on the Hudson, beautiful nineteenth century row houses, The Fashion Institute of Technology, and many interesting and exciting restaurants and stores. Chelsea is now home to Best Buy, Portico, and Buy Buy Baby.

Then, there's The Meatpacking District: This fast-evolving district is located between Chelsea and Greenwich Village. It's borders are West 14th and Gansevoort Streets, the West Side Highway, and Ninth Avenue. The fantastic mix of hyper-chic boutiques, restaurants, bars, and galleries, juxtaposed to real-life meat-packing companies and wholesale food suppliers gives area the mood of a Guy Bourdin photo, where the unexpected is the norm. In the district, one finds Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Yiga Azrouel, Carlos Miele, Rubin Chapelle.

Soho and Nolita: A year ago, they said that Soho was down and out. Well, "they" were wrong. Soho is swiftly returning as more and more new retail tenants seek space in this elegant landmark district of the cast-iron. At present, the list includes, among others, Bloomingdale's (how about that?) La Perla, Adidas Originals, Costanca Basto, Sharper Image, Crate & Barrel, Vespa, Levi's, Barry Kieseistein-Cord, Agent Provacateur, Calypso Homme, Puma, American Eagle, Apple Computer, and Robert Marc.

Nolita has come into its own. No longer Soho's little sidekick, Nolita is Northern Little Italy, where the shops are smaller, cozier, often more eccentric and individualistic. New arrivals in Nolita are Crumpler, Lilith, Edmundo Castillo, Cadeau, Prohibit, Saigoniste, The Apartment, Dinosaur Designs, and Mariebelle.

The West Village and the East Village: The West Village is Greenwich Village by another name, more family-oriented, more sedate than it was years ago, but the aura of bohemia still clings. Retail has discovered the terrific customer potential of the present residents of this lovely village within a city. Lulu Guinness, Vieux Carre, and The Chocolate Bar are new arrivals.

The East Village is something else. Long the bastion of punk, heavy-metal, and whatever else lay beyond, this area between East 14th Street and Houston Streets and the East River and Broadway, is settling down. It is after all, the location for Cooper Union and dormitories of New York University. One often gets the feeling of being in an unconventional college town. The area is attracting new residents and building a new retail base. Bess has just opened and several chic new restaurants and night spots.

The Fashionable Flatiron: In the old days, the Flatiron Building and its triangular site where Broadway and Fifth Avenue crossed, was part of two exciting worlds, one, that of the theater, dance halls, etc. and the other, the fashionable shopping world of Ladies' Mile. The theaters are long gone from this stretch of Broadway and Fifth in the 20s, but retail has rediscovered it and the Flatiron District is again an exciting shopping destination. New arrivals are Armani A/X, Searle, and Coach.

Moving on to Midtown, East and West: This area is, after all, the midtown of one of largest cities in the world.

It extends from 34th Street to Central Park South and from First to Ninth Avenues. On the West Side, it encompasses the new Times Square, entertainment hub and veritable cross-roads of the world, where a whole new retail center is in development. Newcomers to the Times Square area are Hershey, Footlocker, Champs, Skechers, Quiksilver.

The East Side, is the answer to the tourists' and sight-seers' prayers: The Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station, the United Nations, etc., etc. It's a shopper's paradise as well, taking in as it does, Fifth Avenue, Luxury Walk, The Madison Avenue Golden Mile, and Fabulous Fifty-seventh Street, all of which just keep getting more and more luxurious, golden, and fabulous. DeBeers LV, Boucheron, Solstice, and Reem Acra are new arrivals on Fifth. The Golden Mile has added Miu Miu, Mallet of London, Jurlique, Technomarine, Moreschi, Clark's, Charles Tyrwhitt, Royal Chie, Cecile Jeanne, Herve Leger and the Dahesh Museum.

On 57th Street, it's Audemars Piguet, Yves Saint Laurent, Shiseido, Jil Sander, Maurice Villlency, MacKenzie Childs, and Club Monaco.

The Upper West Side: The area is from Columbus Circle to 110th Street and from Central Park to the Hudson River. Recently, more and more retailers have located to the shopping Avenues of Columbus and Broadway, attracted by a well-to-do, family, shopping population that prefers buying in the neighborhood. The other attraction, of course, is the soon to be completed, fantastic AOL Time Warner Center, which will bring hundreds of thousands of new customers to the Upper West Side. Retailers going into the Center include Stuart Weitzman, Tourneau, Hugo Boss, Cole Haan, Joseph Abboud, J. Crew, Eileen Fisher, Armani A/X and Trussardi's first New York store.

And The Upper Eastside: It goes from 59th Street to 96th and from Fifth Avenue to the East River. It is an area of dense population and immense income in which, for a long time, there was little retail of consequence. But that's all changing, as Madison Avenue's Golden Mile extends, bringing more mid-town retail farther north and Third Avenue has become a shopping center in its own right, where the long list of stores includes Bloomingdale's, among others, and new stores and customers will be added with the completion of the Vornado retail, residential, and office complex, which will also be the Bloomberg World Headquarters.

New openings include Arden b., Gab, Searle, Washington Mutual, and another Gracious Home.

As with all great cities, evolution and change are necessary to remain alive and New York City is very much alive and--Open for Business.