HIGHLAND PARK - Christine Wasserman likes the old-time feel on Raritan Avenue.

"I wouldn't want to see it super-commercialized," the 30-year-old mom-to-be said, adding that she and her grad-student husband are headed back to Washington state this summer after their first baby is born.

Other shoppers have expressed a clear desire for entertainment - an independent movie theater and live theater - a coffee house and a chain bookstore, according to the findings of Main Street Highland Park's Shoppers Survey.

"We're identifying opportunities here," said Graham Copeland, executive director of MSHP, a nonprofit organization focused on promoting and improving the downtown business district. "We're excited."

Antique and gift shops, and the thriving artist community, are creating a new future for the borough, which is planning an arts and crafts show for September, Copeland said.

Vacancies on the main drag are a chance for new restaurants and stores, said Copeland. He cited the UPS store and Qiuznos Sub as recent successes.

"It's fantastic what's happening in Highland Park," he said. "We're seeing a new type of business coming here."

Visions of downtown draw comparisons to towns such as Metuchen, Red Bank and Westfield. One man who shares that vision is Craig Cadmus of Edison.

He's getting ready to open New Jersey's first PJ's Coffeehouse franchise at 315 Raritan Ave., between 3rd and 4th Avenues. Sherine's Dresses for Less, the former occupant, has moved around the corner.

Cadmus sees possibilities in Highland Park.

"It is undergoing a renaissance," he said, calling Highland Park "a nice town."

He's shooting for an August opening.

The qualitative Shoppers Survey supplements other demographic data that will be used to lure businesses to Highland Park's fertile downtown, Copeland said.

"If you've got somebody who's looking to come and open a new business, they want data, they want to find what the consumer wants," Copeland said.

MSHP and the Business Improvement District commissioned a local-market-research Shoppers Survey.

The survey - interviews of 305 shoppers - was conducted along Raritan Avenue between Cedar and 5th avenues by Edison Media Research of Somerville from Oct. 15-31.

Mayor Meryl Frank said the Shopper Survey helps with the borough's gradual transformation.

"What it tells us is that we're right on, that we understand the community well," she said. "It also gave us some indications of things that we didn't know."

New dining establishments may be on the menu, she said. The borough and shop owners should also focus on getting people to use the services available in Highland Park.

"We need to do a better job of marketing to our own residents," she said.

Frank said there's no truth to rumors that the borough is going to take over and raze five blocks downtown.

People will see what her administration has in mind when a draft of redevelopment plans is released in a few days, she said, and that will be followed by public meetings where details will be discussed.

"We want people to love this," she said.

But not everyone agrees that it's all good.

"From what I've heard, the changes are more cosmetic than anything else," said Philip Orenstein, an associate professor at Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick and a 30-year Highland Park resident.

He's troubled that viable businesses might be driven out of town, as he thought might be a possibility, and that he might have to take his car out of town to be repaired.

Although the mayor said criticism of downtown redevelopment ideas has been politically motivated, she admitted that some businesses may be forced to move.

Demetrios Arhontoulis has had a body shop in the borough for almost 30 years and a Sunoco gas station for almost 10 years, both on the section of Raritan Avenue that may be targeted for redevelopment.

"I don't disagree with the fact that we need these types of businesses in town. . . . The problem that I have is the way they want to do this," he said. "They don't need to get me out of here to put these kinds of businesses in town."

Arhontoulis contended that successful businesses like his fit into the character of the community. Plenty of other opportunities for improving the main stretch of town exist, he said.

He said there are empty storefronts that can be adapted for new retailers, and restaurants and buildings that are in need of work.

Opposition from business owners and residents has brought about a change in attitude by borough officials, said Arhontoulis, a member of Highland Park Citizens for Property Rights, a group formed to protest the way redevelopment is planned. He expects to meet with the mayor and members of her team to discuss his place in the borough's future.

George Valenta III, a candidate in next month's primary for a spot on the Democratic Party's council slate, thinks the borough is going too far. He acknowledged that the downtown can use some help, adding that Highland Park should take Metuchen as an example.

"It needs a face lift," Valenta said. "It doesn't need people being thrown out of their businesses and homes. . . . Some of those (people) have been there 50 years.