Manhattan’s retail scene is such a mixed bag as to defy generalization. The Real Estate Board of NY reports fewer available storefronts than last year and rising rents, but overall, conditions are all over the map.

For example, Soho and Upper Madison Avenue are strong while Broadway on the Upper West Side resembles a wasteland of vacant spaces.

One corridor that’s in excellent shape is often overlooked  — Fifth Avenue between East 14th and East 23rd Streets, which doesn’t enjoy the global profile of its Midtown counterpart.

The stretch is thriving with new leases and expansions. Newmark vice-chairman Ariel Schuster, a retail specialist for 20 years, represented either the tenant, landlord or both sides in 80% of recent deals.

He said, “The majority of the world doesn’t realize how much leasing takes place on Lower Fifth Avenue.

“Some [occupancy] numbers there are better than in Soho. “The architecture on Lower Fifth is such that there’s more room for big stores.

“What tenants mostly care about is sales, and sales on Lower Fifth have always been strong. This is not an emerging market,” Schuster chuckled.

He said the availability rate is a minuscule 5%, but asking rents — which can reach $400 per square foot — “vary a lot.”

Recent high-profile retail deals on Lower Fifth include:

“All these transactions took place over the past 12 to 15 months in this one submarket,” Schuster said.