8th St Between University Pl and Broadway

   

On the outer boundaries of NYU's village campus, this street of endless stores has always stuck me as out-of-place. While much of neighborhood is filled with local shops and unique storefronts, this entire stretch may as well be known as Logo Lane. Sure, a few of the places along here are non-chain stores, and there are even slight signs of regression (Johnny Rocket's recently vacated a location here), but otherwise the endless parade of glowing signs is rather disheartening.

This overloading of retail has created a mini Times Square out of 8th street – a grim sign of what could happen to St. Mark's Place a few blocks to the east if development continues unabated.