Neighborhood Watch: Can Opening Ceremony Tranform Its Dreary Midtown Location?

Opening Ceremony converted the once seedy SoHo block where Crosby Street ends into a retail destination that now features a host of boutiques. Can they do the same thing to the dingy blocks between Greeley Square and the Flatiron Building? This little neighborhood on the edge of the Garment District has been home to cheap little shops and wholesalers, and not really anything much of note for decades, but that's all about to change now that chic New York's favorite store has opened its doors in its midst.
The new branch of the burgeoning chain with recent satellite locations in Los Angeles and Tokyo is by far its smallest at about one tenth the size of the original SoHo store. A full comparison would be unfair, but this Opening Ceremony is part clever microcosm of its downtown sibling and part hipster travel store featuring imported toothpastes and packaged snacks from many lands meant to make international travelers feel at home. While the store features a smattering of apparel including longtime OC favorite labels like Alexander Wang, N. Hoolywood and even a bit of Rodarte, there is also ample space given over to the retailer's growing roster of exclusive collaborations, currently including Timberland, Pendleton, Tumi and ice cream colored corduroys from Levi Strauss & Co. For forgetful packers, there are quality grooming supplies from Swissco and Vitry, as well as a Kiehl's display and an assortment of toiletries not so easily found at the corner drugstore. And just to be safe, there is prophylactic protection from Proper Attire and even a selection of upscale porn for those not too timid to march right up and proudly purchase a copy of BUTT magazine at the hotel store.
Hey, sometimes traveling can get lonely.
Of course, Opening Ceremony won't be singlehandedly responsible for the neighborhood's imminent metamorphosis. It is part of the newly opened Ace Hotel which also contains an even tinier uptown version of Project No. 8, the highly curated Lower East Side boutique, and next year, another similarly upscale hotel, the NoMad, is expected to be ready for guests. Is it hopeful thinking that a drab few blocks of midtown midtown south can be converted to a hipster haven with a few shops and a couple of hotels? Maybe, but it's happening, and a couple of storefronts between the two hotels have already been emptied and are awaiting new, presumably more fashionable tenants, and later this year, Eataly, the Italian artisanal food complex is expected to open just above 23^rd Street featuring markets and six new restaurants with menus designed by Mario Batali.
This leaves us with the question of what exactly to call this little neighborhood? North Flatiron? How about NoFlati? Ideas anyone?
Opening Ceremony at Ace Hotel, 1190-1192 Broadway between 28^th & 29^th Streets