Luxury retail was understood as an organism dependent on sidewalk uncongestion

Evidence

The high-class retail business for which Fifth Avenue is so well known is the most sensitive and delicate organism imaginable, depending, first, on the exclusiveness of the neighborhood; second, on its nearness to the homes of the rich and the large hotels; and, third, on its lack of congestion, especially on sidewalks, so that the customers may not be crowded or jammed in a hurlyburly crowd on their way to and from the different shops. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 412

Categorization

• XREF: The sidewalk as fragile stage echoes the flâneur’s leisurely stroll versus the ‘hurlyburly crowd’ — ties to Simmel’s concern with urban congestion and its psychological effects.