Brooklyn sees small-scale and national retailer growth.

Recent retail events in downtown Brooklyn reflect two equal and opposite trends taking place simultaneously.

As reported in previous retail round-ups, national retailers continue their push into this part of the borough, attracted by the residential demographics of the Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens neighborhoods. And they continue to seek the types of spaces which the neighborhoods' historic architecture finds relatively difficult to provide, that is, medium sized spaces of 2,000 to 5,000 square feet with good visibility and wide frontage.

Concurrent with this, though, is the flourishing of exactly the opposite trend: small, polished, often very upscale stores and restaurants, usually no bigger than 500 to 750 square feet, which have been replacing the old guard on Court Street, and are literally mushrooming along Smith Street. Previously, Smith Street was mostly occupied by smaller grocery stores. In the last one to two years, many of the former tenants have been replaced by stores with a high degree of individuality in both appearance and product lines. Twenty-two new establishments have been added.

Their tendency is to maximize the use of the existing Victorian architecture, providing the neighborhood with an interesting counterpoint to the tried and true national retailers who have been coming in. What they lack in size, they make up in character and singularity. Ultimately they have helped make the street a great destination.

To address the national chains first, though, downtown Brooklyn has continued to attract a steady influx of brand-name retailers. In the retail-residential equation, this has clearly been driven by the strongest housing market in over a decade, the further mainstreaming" of Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill residentially, and the opportunity for national retailers to sell products to an affluent customer base in its own borough.

The strength of the local office market has also played a significant role in this residential influx. With the existing stock of office spaces in downtown Brooklyn almost fully leased out, there are also more customers who will potentially buy a $3 cappuccino, a $6 soup, a $100 cashmere scarf, a pair of high fashion shoes, or sign on for a year of cell phone service. Thus, recently arrived national retailers such as Sprint, Nine West, Vitamin Shoppe and others will be joined shortly by two new chains, shortly to be announced by Ingram & Hebron Realty: a national pharmacy chain is taking some 12,000 square feet of street-level and basement space on Court Street; and an eyeglass store is taking 2,000 square feet on Montague Street. Both cases are interesting examples of carving "box spaces" out of the existing architecture.

Nor have the national chains squeezed out the smaller local, shops and restaurants. In complete contrast to the trend that brings those retailers seeking out large box spaces. and who have made a science out of articulating space needs that meet certain size, configuration, location and street traffic requirements, a new brand of small, boutique-oriented retailer has been opening its doors for business along Smith Street. Ingram & Hebron Realty has tabulated 22 new establishments that have recently opened on the Smith Street stretch from Carroll Street to Atlantic Avenue. This includes six new restaurants such as Saul, Boerum Hill Food Company, Sur, Zaytoons and The Fall Cafe; six new fashion, accessory and children's clothing stores such as Crush, Frida's Closet, Refinery and The Green Onion; four new ephemera and collectibles stores, such as Tea Cozy and Astro Turf; and two new antiques stores, a coffee bar and the return of Marquet, a French bakery which over five years ago, keeping its production facilit y on Smith Street, moved its retail presence to a prime Central Greenwich Village block. It has recently reopened a retail store on Smith Street.

The ownership of all of these stores and restaurants comprise a mixture of local gentry and ex-Manhattanites seeking an affordable way to start a business.

In this newly born retail row, there is such a marked leaning towards restaurants, caterers and coffee bars that the street has been dubbed by many as the neighborhood's new "Restaurant Row." Individually and collectively, the Street appeals to a more knowledgeable clientele, without being artificially sophisticated or overwrought. It has an international tone, from Vietnamese to Moroccan, French to Argentine. These establishments, many of them started by sous-chefs hailing from marquis-quality Manhattan eateries, have sufficiently proven themselves in former lives as to have attracted food critics from such publications as New York Magazine, the New York Times, Time Out and others. This new breed of restaurateurs has also made an investment in improving and restoring the real estate stock, from interior design and lighting, to exterior facade work.

The opening of three or four new retail establishments during this period could be considered a happy coincidence, beneficial to the neighborhood, but not necessarily an eye-popping trend. However, the events of Smith Street are part of a much bigger wave. In real estate terms, Smith Street was a great opportunity waiting to happen. Supported by the patronage of knowledgeable, upwardly mobile residents living in Cobble Hill, and catalyzed by the difficulty and expense of starting up a new restaurant in Manhattan, where it is not uncommon to spend $1 million to $5 million prior to even opening the doors for business, Smith Street afforded restaurateurs an opportunity to experiment and take a risk. At the same time, the financial stake was reasonable enough that they were able to develop a style, create something new and distinctive, without having to resort to the tried, true and predictable. Smith Street offered a rare combination of location and reasonable rents, and so it flourished. It was a once-in-a-lif etime opportunity for the street to change in one sweep, and while it remains to be seen which entrepreneurs will flourish and which won't, they have brought on a classic real estate revival, with imaginative re-use of the existing (mostly Victorian) architecture, wood-framed storefronts, and a healthy serving of originality.