City, suburbs look great for incoming retailers.

The outlook in retail real estate in the five boroughs and the suburbs is almost totally positive right now. People aren't laying out quite as much of their disposable income as we might have hoped, but they are slowly starting to spend a little more.

Major retail chains all seem to he eager to enter these markets, and there seems to be enough action for everyone. The only major problem in this region as a whole, is that the amount of available space keeps getting tighter. It takes a lot of work, and a lot of creativity, for a broker to put together a deal that everyone can live with.

Here's the current situation in each sub-section of the marketplace:

Northern New Jersey

The area continues to be one of the biggest success stories in the country in terms of retailing. It draws from the whole state of New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, upstate New York, and these days, even New York City.

Everyone's making money there - owners, brokers and retailers. Some of the more upscale stores, gourmet supermarkets, and the more expensive restaurants are coming back, after having shied away from this area for some time.

The only problem with Northern New Jersey is that it's too popular. Local officials are doing their best to bring in national retail chains by offering them various incentives. But they're having a hard time keeping up with the demand for space, as many supermarkets, home centers and other "big box" stores compete for territory. The market is very tight, and rents are high: as much as $20 per square foot on Route 22, and $28 per square foot in Paramus.

Still, one retailer or another is bound to make a bundle in this part of the country; this region is "evergreen."

Manhattan

Zoning laws or no zoning laws, we're going to see more "big box" stores coming into Manhattan gradually over the next 10 years. A mixture of diplomacy and legal maneuvering is allowing these 100,000-plus square-foot monsters in - and in most cases, the results have been surprisingly positive.

We've seen several shabby neighborhoods take on new life because a mega-store or two took root there. The Kmart recently opened at Broadway and 9th Street had been dreaded and staunchly resisted by nearby retailers and residents, but it's turned out to have brought new business and new vitality to an area that had gone just a bit to seed. The stretch of Sixth Avenue between 14th and 23rd Streets was about as exciting as a mashed-potato sandwich five years ago. Today, thanks to Bed, Bath & Beyond, T.J. Maxx, Filene's and several other big stores, it's one of the most popular retailing areas in the five boroughs.

Another Kmart, at Penn Plaza is playing a major part in a near total makeover of that famous neighborhood. Several big Barnes & Nobles have become meeting places for intellectuals and lonely hearts. All in all, these mega-stores have turned out to be pretty good citizens - and good neighbors.

Now there's talk of allowing development of mega-stores on Manhattan's West Side in the old manufacturing neighborhoods in HeWs Kitchen, west of Ninth Avenue in the 40's and 50's.

There's still plenty of room for smaller, single-unit retailers, especially at the upper end. Fifth and Madison avenues from Midtown to the 80's will always he what people think of when they think of shopping in Manhattan.

Queens

If you don't spend much time in Queens, you might be tempted to dismiss it as a grey, uninteresting bedroom borough. That perception may have been accurate 20 years ago, but Queens has been making some terrific leaps forward since then in terms of color, excitement and diversity.

We're seeing old warehouses, catering facilities and mixed-use properties being restored and redeveloped, maybe not on a grand level, but with a lot of e'lan. Certain neighborhoods that were on the skids a few years ago are back up to speed. Long Island City, for instance, is a newly exciting spot, an up-and-coming artistic community that might end up rivaling SoHo and Brooklyn Heights.

The retailing picture in Queens is very strong. It's under-retailed compared to the rest of the country, and it has many viable and vibrant communities.

Long Island

One of the most prosperous sections of the United States, and likely to remain so indefinitely, Long Island offers incredible 'opportunities to practically any retail chain - if one can only find space!

The hottest retailing area on Long Island continues to be "The Black Hole of Nassau County" - the Roosevelt Field area down to Fortunoff's new source and the Coliseum/Mitchell Field area. This is where every retailer is dying to be - but with about four million square feet of retailing already in place there, it'll be tough to find room for any more! Incredible Universe, a division of Tandy that turned out to he a failed experiment, closed down a 185,000 square-foot unit at the Roosevelt Raceway Center in the Roosevelt Field area - and you can just about hear retailers moaning in anticipation at the idea of snagging that piece of real estate!

Moving over to Suffolk County, we've heard talk about expansion at the Smithhaven Mall, a spot where many mall-driven retailers look to put their second store. We're also seeing lots of activity by movie theater owners, who are trying to find spaces to put up more of those huge 14- to 20-screen complexes.

Staten Island 

Glamorous designer boutiques are never going to find much of a niche there, but plenty of retailers, from the low end to the upper-mid scale, are more eager than ever to open up in Staten Island.

A Staten Island location offers several advantages, including freedom to experiment in a controlled market; freedom to be big; great access; and low rents. The low rents may not last, though, as Staten Island becomes a more popular retailing spot. Smart business people had best get in on the game before demand drives prices up.

At present, Staten Island has three principal shopping streets, and several important secondary ones. Richmond Avenue's Staten island Mall, anchored by Sears, Macy's and JC Penney, gives you an idea of the basic retailing atmosphere: basic and mid-scale, but nothing shabby.

The main challenge for Staten Island right now is to maintain its grip on the mid-market. The big winners on Staten Island will be those retailers who can romance their product and sell image as well as substance. As retailing grows there, a little excitement will be required to keep it healthy.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is becoming a fun place to shop. It still has its traditional enclosed malls, such as Kings Plaza, but it also has bustling, colorful open-air shopping centers such as Fulton Center. The area surrounding Borough Hall, once strictly a place where people went to work, is evolving into a 24-hour neighborhood, where more stores, restaurants and theaters are being planned.

Brooklyn has a wealth of delightful neighborhoods that invite the right type of retail scheme.

The Bronx/Westchester

The Bronx has some of the strongest shopping streets in the Tri-State area: Fordham Road and 181st Street are retailing hubs on the order of Manhattan's 34th Street. And Bay Plaza near Co-op City has been an unmitigated success, with a new JC Penney opening on the heels of the borough's first Kmart and plans in the works for a 100-store enclosed mall addition.

Westchester County has great demographics, and will always be a hotbed of high-end retailing - a suburban version of Manhattan's "Gold Coast." Right now, across the road from The Westchester Shopping Center, Saks Fifth Avenue will be anchoring a new and very chic 50-store shopping center, scheduled to open at the end of 1998, and there's talk of renovating the Galleria Mall in White Plains. This is a swanky area, getting swankier.

The overall picture for retailers is that "shop till you drop" is the order of the day. (Garrick-Aug's Faith Hope Consolo can now be seen on the Internet, including the popular retail column "The Faith Report," and listings with color photographs of storefronts and recent news articles on the retail market. Her home page is: http:www.faithconsolo.com: her e-mail address is [e-mail].)