Are People In Brooklyn Really That Lazy?

Sure, I’d walk all the way to Smith Street but why bother when Fifth Avenue is just as close:

Yes, you are seeing double.

Smith Street and Fifth Avenue are becoming mirror images of one another — thanks to at least half a dozen entrepreneurs opening shops on both streets.

Call it “Smifth Avenue.” Lucia, Something Else, Soula and Flirt, plus chains like Brooklyn Industries and Area Kids, have staked a claim on both streets.

Owners say they’re making life easier for shoppers, not trying to erase Brooklyn’s long-standing neighborhood distinctions.

“We noticed that we had significant numbers of customers who shop on Smith Street, but live in Park Slope and Prospect Heights,” said Soula owner Rick Lee.

In almost all cases, shop owners opened their first outlet on Smith Street before expanding to Fifth Avenue.

“There was an attitude of ‘If we were able to do it on Smith, now we’re able to do it on Fifth,'” said Samantha Delman Caserta, the owner of 3Rliving, a Fifth Avenue shop, and head of the Fifth Avenue Merchants Association.