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It is tempting to see the opening of the Ikea mega-store in Red Hook on Wednesday as a game-changing moment in the area’s commercial renaissance, a sort of “retail therapy” for a neighborhood in the doldrums.

There is no question that the store offers benefits to the area, the borough and the entire city. Prices at Ikea are reasonable, the offerings are varied and urbane, and, most important, its proximity means that shoppers will be spending their money in Red Hook, rather than burning gasoline to get to Ikea locations in New Jersey or Long Island.

Many local officials have cheered the new mega-store — and said they hope it will lead to more such retail in the down-on-its-luck neighborhood.

That’s where we part ways with the pols.

Yes, Red Hook needs development and the jobs that come with it — and the borough needs the national chain retailers that are saving money for consumers all over the country. When such a retailer opens in Brooklyn — as in the case of Target at the Atlantic Terminal Mall, and now Ikea in Red Hook — customers flock to them.

For this reason, we have long advocated (and did so again last week) for Wal-Mart to come to the borough, too.

But, please, not in Red Hook!

When we encourage big-box retailing in the borough, we are calling for those companies to open in urban, pedestrian-friendly areas like the Fulton Mall, not in out-of-the-way places like Red Hook, where huge, energy-sapping parking lots are required, and customers typically drive in and drive out without spending money or time in any of the existing local shops.

Unfortunately, many big-box retailers — including Wal-Mart, Bed, Bath and Beyond and Staples — are drooling over several large Red Hook parcels, land that would handily accommodate thousands of cars.

And under the mantra of “jobs, jobs, jobs,” local pols may be tempted to pave the way for those retailers and their suburban-style customers.

That’s not the way to create a vibrant Red Hook.

The jury remains out on Ikea, but it is clear that turning Red Hook into Brooklyn’s big box zone would be a step in the wrong direction.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

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