The 15 coolest spots in urban retail

If you want to ferret out the hottest new concepts in retailing, head to the coolest streets in the city, not the suburban mall. So states a new report from Cushman and Wakefield, which rated the 100 hippest and edgiest neighborhoods in America based on assessments from its brokers, appraisers, and property managers nationwide.



The big takeaway for retailers in “Cool Streets of North America,” according to the report’s authors, is that retail’s dwindling mid-market can be found thriving in city neighborhoods populated by Millennials and Hipsters. “A new breed of retailers is connecting with Millennial consumers largely on their own terms and, more often than not, at that seemingly disappearing mid-market price point,” said the report.



Brooklyn’s famed Williamsburg area, an early Hipster enclave that saw mass migration by Manhattanites seeking cheaper rents, is the “poster child” for today’s Cool Streets, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Today’s top three inheritors of Williamsburg’s legacy are:



Sunset Park, Brooklyn: As Williamsburg trended mainstream and pricey, cheap rent hunters spread to other nabes in the borough such as this one on its western waterfront, home to the 6 million sq.-ft. multi-use Industrial City complex, which has drawn Bed Bath & Beyond, Cost Plus, and Saks Off Fifth to its shopping area.



Logan Square, Chicago: A growing art scene (and rising rents) in nearby Wicker Park caused inhabitants to spill over to this neighborhood on Chicago’s near northwest side. The arrival of the Logan Square Farmer’s Market in 2007 ignited the retail flame, which has since been fanned by a bevy of bars and restaurants.



Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati:One of America’s largest historic neighborhoods and home to the Cincinnati Symphony and Opera, OTR also called on its heritage of the brewing arts to beckon Hipsters. Taft’s Ale House and the Christian Moerlein and Rheinegeist breweries were landmarks of the resurgence.



Rounding out the Cool Streets Top 15 were RiNo in Denver; Silver Lake in Los Angeles; Wynwood in Miami; North Loop in Minneapolis; Roosevelt Row in Phoenix; Carytown in Richmond, Va.; East Village in San Diego; Jackson Square in San Francisco; Delmar Loop in St. Louis; West Queen West in Toronto; Mount Pleasant/Main in Vancouver; and Shaw in Washington, D.C.