October 6, 2007 / Brooklyn Heights–Downtown / Perspective / Heights Lowdown

The Euros are spending!

By Juliana Bunim

for The Brooklyn Paper

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For too long, the Fulton Mall has been seen as Brooklyn Heights’ little brother. The areas live their lives side by side, but really have nothing in common.

Neighboring shopping destinations like Front Street in DUMBO and DeKalb Avenue in Fort Greene are teeming with unique shops, galleries, bars and restaurants. But the Mall has the scraps — cellular mega-stores, bargain clothiers, chain retailers and fast food.

Many Heights residents have little interest in spending their time — let alone their money — at the pedestrianized street mall. But we shouldn’t be so quick to turn up our noses. The merchandise might be cheap, but commercial rents on the block are not — they’re on par with Montague Street and Seventh Avenue in Park Slope. And there is far less commercial vacancy on the Fulton Mall than on Montague Street. And according to the Fulton Mall Improvement Association, the mall is the borough’s most-popular shopping district, with 100,000 daily visitors.

Those customers are not only local bargain-hunters. With the Euro at an all-time high against the once-almighty dollar, tourists are snagging deals.

“I had a stewardess from Lufthansa ask if there was a butcher shop in the area,” said Inna Medow of Sterling Optical on Fulton and Pearl Streets. “She wanted to buy a beef roast to take back to Germany with her because apparently meat was so expensive there.”

European tourists are in the position to buy, but why are they doing it at the Fulton Mall?

“There’s no traffic, which is a lovely relief,” said German tourist Eva Mueller, while checking out a faux gold pendant at a street vendor. “Last time we came, we did all the tourist activities. But now … we want real New York..”

Shopowners say that the mall’s appeal is indeed its urban feel. Inside Cellular Island, a thumping mega store at Lawrence Street, is the counter where Awan Javed runs the Fashion Gold Jewelry Store.

“A lot of Europeans come [to Fulton Street] for the jewelry,” said Javed. “They’re looking for name plates, earrings [and] handmade things at good prices.” (Even at a counter inside a cellphone store!)

Mueller bought a couple pieces from Javed, as well as football jerseys from Modell’s, to take back to her daughter and son in Gottingen, Germany. “The jewelry and the sports clothes are like what my children see on television and of course want,” she said. “We don’t have a place like this at home.”

Juliana Bunim is a writer who lives in Brooklyn Heights.

The Kitchen Sink

Julianna Margulies was spotted in Borough Hall last week filming “Canterbury’s Law,” a new courtroom drama on Fox this January. …

Major congratulations to everyone who put on the Cranberry Street Fair last weekend. We can’t wait to see what beautiful additions the proceeds will fund this year. …

A hearty Sink welcome to Amy Maxmen, a new presence at our favorite DUMBO coffee joint, the General Store. Maxmen had a little trouble lighting one of the restaurant’s votives on her first night, but she handled everything else with aplomb.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper