Ginza Tops N.Y.’s East 57th as Costliest Shopping Street

Tokyo’s Ginza has displaced New York’s East 57th Street as the world’s most expensive shopping street for retailers, a survey reported today.

The 10 top most expensive rent locations in the world include four in Manhattan.

Retailers on the Ginza pay an average of $650 per square foot in rent, while East 57th Street merchants pay $435, according to the survey by Hirschfeld Cos., a retail real estate marketing firm.

East 57th Street, a thoroughfare of fashion and luxury goods shops, and art and antique galleries, topped the list as the most expensive street in 1988 at $425.

Rents on the Ginza shot up from $400 per square foot last year to $650, an increase of 62%.

This was ascribed by Michael Hirschfeld of the marketing firm to supply and demand and an increase in the value of the yen against the dollar.

New York’s Fifth Avenue between 50th and 59th streets ranked third on the list at $375 per square foot and Madison Avenue between 62nd and 72nd streets ranked fourth at $335.

Other streets on the list were Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, $225; Nathan Road in Hong Kong, $200; Bond Street in London, $180; Rue de Faubourg St. Honore in Paris, $175; Bloor Street in Toronto, $150, and New York’s Lexington Avenue between 57th and 60th Streets, $150.