Out with the reels, in with the heels.

A national shoe store chain is ready to step into the space formerly occupied by five screens of Battery Park City’s Regal Cinemas.

DSW: Designer Shoe Warehouse plans to open in March on the second floor of the theater complex, in the Embassy Suites hotel building at North End Avenue and Murray Street.

The only multiplex in Lower Manhattan shrank from 16 to 11 screens when the second floor was closed in July. The remaining screens are on the third and fourth floors.

The shoe store will be 30,000 square feet, enough space for 32,700 pairs of shoes, said Camille Merkle, a DSW spokeswoman. The company, which has 133 stores in 27 states, chose the site for its first Manhattan store at a time when many nearby retailers are struggling.

Dick Westerling, senior vice president of marketing at Regal Cinemas, said that the building’s developer and owner, Forest City Ratner, “elected to take back the five screens” as allowed in the theater’s lease.

Rick Ferrell, retail property manager at Forest City Ratner, said it was “a mutual accommodation” between his company and Regal.

The theater often draws small audiences to its screenings.

Julie Rauer, a regular moviegoer who lives in the financial district, said she was disappointed by the closing of the five screens.

“We have few sources of entertainment and culture down here,” she said. “People say they want more of it, but apparently there was not enough support for the movie theater. I just hope they don’t close more screens.”

Nicole Hutt, who lives at 22 River Terrace, two blocks from the theater, said she liked the lack of crowds at the theater and hoped that fewer screens won’t mean bigger audiences. But she said she would “definitely go to check out the new store, and depending on the quality of shoes, I’d shop there.”

Another BPC resident, Alicia Stanton, said she welcomed more local shopping options, though her husband Michael said he was “not a big shopper” and would rather have more movie choices.

Beth Coleman, who has lived at Gateway Plaza for 16 years, was disappointed by the kind of retail that was chosen. “A shoe store is probably the last thing we need,” she said. “There are plenty of more helpful things they could use that space for —like a Fairway.”