Second Floor Shops A Haven For Mom And Pop Retail

"Certain types of shopkeepers, especially shoe repairers and dry cleaners, are imperiled. 'They're being driven out of the city,' said Aaron Gavios, executive vice president and managing partner of Square Foot Realty, a Manhattan firm that specializes in small clients. 'They can't spend more than $4,000 or $5,000 a month, and rents like that are quickly evaporating.'

Still, that doesn't necessarily portend a streetscape walled in by chain stores or big boxes. Enterprising small storeowners have increasingly headed upstairs, colonizing once empty second- and third-story spaces.

These new or at least newly rediscovered locations lack visibility and ease of access. But they rent for half the cost of a ground floor, and that can make a decisive difference. You can still encounter the improbable shop and the ardent storekeeper. To do it, however, you have to look upward."