It soon became the prime attraction on the city's main retail thoroughfare, popularly known as "Petticoat Lane," and became famed for its Tea Room.

The battle comes as the police have been cracking down on sidewalk vendors, including those selling printed material, a group previously exempt from the city law barring sidewalk vendors from major retail thoroughfares.

"We thought Third Avenue would develop as a great retail thoroughfare," Mr. Gladstone said.

Milan's most prestigious retail thoroughfare is Via Monte Napoleone, an august parade of Neoclassical palazzi and luxury shops.

Congress Avenue was the main retail thoroughfare.

The avenue is a busy retail thoroughfare that offers a glimpse of the borough's bustling polyglot character.

Ozone Park itself primarily has mom and pop stores along its major retail thoroughfares: Atlantic, Liberty and 101st Avenues and Cross Bay and Rockaway Boulevards.

These changes are giving 14th Street a new persona as a residential boulevard, a booming retail thoroughfare and a mecca for high-tech enterprises.

The main retail thoroughfare in the area, Rivonia Boulevard, is the location of several shopping complexes as well as many other shops and restaurants.

For many years, Rideau Street was one of Ottawa's primary retail thoroughfares, containing department stores such as Freimans, Charles Ogilvy Limited, Woolworth, Caplan's and the Metropolitan.