No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn

Although Brooklyn's got "hipster central" neighborhoods like Dumbo and Williamsburg, sometimes it can be hard for Manhatttanites to get on the subway and actually make their way out there. Sure, the formerly maligned borough is much more of a magnet for the 212 crowd than it was, say, when Miranda Hobbes moved out there a decade ago during the final season of Sex and The City ... but it's still just too much of a trek for some folks who think of NYC as just Manhattan island.

To give Manhattan couch potatoes the nudge they need, Brooklyn Tourism (yes, the borough does have its own tourism board) has come up with Shop Brooklyn Boutique Fashion Nights, an initiative to get chic shoppers out of the house (or, as they say in Brooklyn, "outta da hows") and into its shops. Next Wednesday and Thursday nights, a variety of stores in Brooklyn's five most stylish neighborhoods — Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene/Bedford-Stuyvesant, Park Slope, Williamsburg and Bay Ridge — will stay open until 10 o'clock and offer discounts, drinks, and face time with some of the Big Apple's best emerging designers.

Where's the best place to start your night of shopping? Our pick is Hayden-Harnett's Greenpoint flagship, where the brand's irresistible bags, shoes, and accessories will be 50 percent off ... making them really, truly irresistible. And while you're landing some bargains, we hope you'll buy this tote full price — after all, 100 percent of its proceeds go to Farm Aid and it's just 27 bucks. And spending your green to support a community's shopkeepers, particularly during a recession, is very, very good.