“Americans love the chic of Europe” according to Faith Hope Consolo. Indeed they do – and consequently, they should also love Ms. Consolo.

As the top real estate broker for retailers in New York, Ms. Consolo has enriched the lives of fashionistas immeasurably by bringing to town vendors such as Asprey, Manolo Blahnik, Creed, Christofle, Jimmy Choo, and Christian Louboutin. She has also represented Judith Lieber, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Cartier.

Just reviewing Ms. Consolo’s client list can make you feel poorer. Judging from her evident love for these brands, and frequent visits to their stores, it’s a wonder she breaks even.

In fact, it is her love of shopping that has secured many of her clients. As she has wandered the streets of Knightsbridge, or the Champs Elysee, she has taken note of hip new stores, introduced herself, and insinuated herself into their futures.

Most of us are content to walk out with a shopping bag; Ms. Consolo wants to walk out with the whole shop.

Ms. Consolo today serves as chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Retail Leasing and Sales Division. She oversees 60 offices across the country, has her own team of brokers, but still manages to work with her select list of clients.

And it is very select. “I don’t want failures on my resume,” she said. “I don’t want weak tenants.” She feels fortunate that she doesn’t have to deal with the likes of cell-phone stores, which are here today, gone tomorrow. Ms. Consolo doesn’t just help her tony clients find space, she helps them formulate a strategy, and helps them grow.

A case in point is her encounter with Paul Smith, the hip British designer. Some years ago, Ms. Consolo was wandering through the Dickensian maze of Covent Garden on Christmas Eve, and ventured into the Paul Smith boutique looking for a last-minute gift. She admired the shop, and was invited upstairs to meet the designer in his atelier (on Christmas Eve, for heaven’s sake).

Mr. Smith acknowledged that he had considered opening a store in Manhattan, but was uncertain about the perfect location. Since his line was a little off-beat, he didn’t want to set up shop in a conventional setting. They decided to locate his first American store in the Flatiron area.

That was 17 years ago. Arguably, his boutique, the first hot designer to move to the area, made the neighborhood the trendy retail destination it is today.

Ms. Consolo got into real estate after spending several years as an interior designer in Los Angeles. A divorce, combined with the realization that she was never going to be tops in that trade, caused her to move back to New York and to cast about for something else to do.

She met a fellow at a party in Palm Beach who suggested she try her hand at commercial brokerage. He installed her in a “corner office” – actually, a corner in the office, with a black steel deck with broken handles. Her boss gave her a Manhattan phone book and told her to go to work.

She had absolutely no idea what she was doing.

On one of her first days on the job ,she happened to call Godiva, one of her favorite vendors, and asked if they had any real estate needs. The head of the company responded with those magic words: “Funny you should call me; we’re just discussing expansion …” Ms. Consolo’s career was off and running.

Only she wasn’t quite sure where she was off and running. It turned out the meeting was not in the St. Regis, the only address Ms. Consolo associated with Godiva, but rather at the company’s factory in Pennsylvania. A hastily organized trek out to Redding proved a major breakthrough, as Ms. Consolo was awarded exclusive rights to secure Godiva’s future homes all over the country.

After a couple of years at her first firm, she was hired away by Garrick-Aug Worldwide, a much bigger player in the industry. She built her business over the next 20 years at that firm, ultimately becoming vice chairman.

During those years, she became a recognized real estate leader. She was named by Crain’s as one of New York’s most influential women in business on more than one occasion, and was honored in 1999 as Woman of the Year by the Associated Builders and Owners of Greater New York, a first for that association.

Along the way, she developed a publication called “The Faith Report,” which sounds vaguely religious but is not. Rather, it updates readers on what’s happening in Manhattan’s fanciest retail centers. It reads like David Patrick Columbia’s Social Diary, but the characters are stores, not people.

Last fall, she noted the new digs of Bottega Veneta, the return of Sant Ambroeus to 1000 Madison Ave., new arrivals in Chelsea such as Lucien Pellat-Finet and Aedes de Venustas, and the opening of Brasserie LCB by Jean-Jacques Rachou. Anything upscale and new merits commentary.

For those interested in discerning trends in New York, Ms. Consolo is a likely reference. What does she think of Manhattan real estate?

First, it is extremely expensive. Prime space on what she calls “Fabulous Fifth Avenue” is going for $1440 per square foot, while choice “Gold Coast” Madison locations are fetching up to $900. For comparison, she notes that Bond Street stores in London are only paying $550 per square foot, and Champs Elysee properties are only a little higher at $600. Indeed, expensive.

What’s a new up-and-coming area? She thinks quality vendors will continue to move north along Madison and Third avenues, and that Columbus Avenue could see some new energy. She is not impressed with the Meatpacking District; in her view the chic Jeffreys store is the only one doing significant business in that neighborhood.

Though acknowledging the considerable success of the Time Warner retail center, she does not imagine there will be copycat efforts. In general, vertical retailing has not been successful in New York.

Who’s leasing new space? Banks, always. Also expanding significantly are stores selling luxury children’s wear, spa and beauty products, high-priced foods and wines, and automobile showrooms, oddly enough.

What do all these vendors have in common? A desire to tap into New Yorkers’ bank accounts and an apparently inexhaustible amount of faith in Faith.