The New Retail Thread

datadyne007 said:
They're trimming down. Since Monday, the company says it's laid off 450 employees and closed 29 locations. Cosi currently has about 1,100 employees. Probably won't cut the Boston market though. Far too many catered lunches to screw up that will keep them in business here.
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The Boylston Street location closed. It opened relatively recently...
 
It was open one full year. Struggled the whole time.

cca
 
datadyne007 said:
They're trimming down. Since Monday, the company says it's laid off 450 employees and closed 29 locations. Cosi currently has about 1,100 employees. Probably won't cut the Boston market though. Far too many catered lunches to screw up that will keep them in business here.
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Obviously you never like to see a retail space vacated and people lose jobs, but good riddance to Cosi if they shutter more locations.
 
L.L. Bean is opening a small kiosk-type store in the Pru Mall near Microsoft.

Johnny Was is opening a large store in the Pru Mall.
 
Ive always liked Cosi. Since when were they based in Boston? I swear they were in DC well before Boston
 
jass said:
Ive always liked Cosi. Since when were they based in Boston? I swear they were in DC well before Boston
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I could be wrong, but I think they moved their corporate headquarters from Chicago to Boston a few years back.
 
bigpicture7 said:
Blue Bottle Coffee, big in SF, now coming to boston:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2016/10/03/blue-bottle-coffee-planning-expansion-boston/pSA0mELmAycYWD0oaICIeN/story.html
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Funny thing - I actually worked on the 40 Bow St shell & core gut job & apartment fitout. Finding a tenant for that ground floor retail space has proven to be challenging. The basement was actually designed to be a commercial kitchen to support a full fledged restaurant, but the coffee house definitely won't be needing that.

I was scrolling thru Twitter today when I came across OnlyInBoston's post about Blue Bottle showing only the picture of 40 Bow and I was like omg that's 40 Bow St!
 
mass88 said:
I could be wrong, but I think they moved their corporate headquarters from Chicago to Boston a few years back.
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JumboBuc said:
BBJ, April 2014: Fast-casual chain Cosi is moving its HQ to Boston from the Chicago area
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I'll be darned! According to their website, Cosi is headquartered in Downtown Crossing on Washington Street, across from the mega Walgreens.

Such a weird collection of restaurant chains with Boston HQ's:
Cosi
Smith & Wollensky
Legal Seafood
Uno Pizzeria and Grille
Au Bon Pain
Boloco
b.good
I know there are others
 
dshoost88 said:
I'll be darned! According to their website, Cosi is headquartered in Downtown Crossing on Washington Street, across from the mega Walgreens.

Such a weird collection of restaurant chains with Boston HQ's:
Cosi
Smith & Wollensky
Legal Seafood
Uno Pizzeria and Grille
Au Bon Pain
Boloco
b.good
I know there are others
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Dshoost -- Don't forget Dunkin Donuts -- HQ in Canton [founded in Quincy -- also the birthplace of the late lamented Howard Johnson's] -- DD's parent Dunkin Brands also owns Baskin Robins -- HQ in Canton [founded in Glendale CA]

and then there's the equally strange location of the HQ of the restaurant chain born in Newton as Boston Chicken that became Boston Market

now based in Golden, near Denver -- although the investors who own it are based in Boca Raton FL

Boston market ironically and improbably got in a legal dispute over names with Boston Pizza whose HQ is in Richmond, British Columbia
Boston Pizza settles dispute with Boston Market over the name Boston
Saturday, March 8, 2008 12:00:00 EST AM
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http://www.wellandtribune.ca/2008/0...spute-with-boston-market-over-the-name-boston

and which eventually spawned a Mexican and US group of franchises operating under the name "Boston's The Gourmet Pizza " HQ'ed in um Dallas

As some sage once observed -- you can't make this stuff up -- Reality is often stranger than fiction
 
I had forgotten and/or never made the connection that 22 Liberty was going to have restaurant space:

Fan Pier Condo Tower Lands Sushi Bar

Lola 42, a 3,700-square-foot bistro and sushi bar, will open next spring at Fallon Co.’s Twenty Two Liberty condo tower on Boston’s Fan Pier.
The restaurant is a venture by Marco Coelho, proprietor of Lola 41 bistro and Lola Burger on Nantucket and Sails American Bar & Grille in Rowayton, Connecticut. The menu will include Mediterranean and Japanese cuisine.
Lola 42 joins recently-announced Fan Pier tenants including Mastro’s Ocean Club seafood restaurant, Frank Anthony’s Gourmet Market, Sorelle bakery, Laura LeDuc Fitness and Salon Mario Russo.
CBRE/New England Retail brokered the transaction.
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Not sure if this has been mentioned here previously, but Hillstone in Faneuil Hall will be closing on October 15.
 
Incidentially, Tatte in Harvard Square opened this past week. Not sure if other locations do this, but they've pointed their oven vent fans directly out onto the sidewalk. Best smelling stretch of road ever.
 
Equilibria said:
Incidentially, Tatte in Harvard Square opened this past week. Not sure if other locations do this, but they've pointed their oven vent fans directly out onto the sidewalk. Best smelling stretch of road ever.
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Call me jaded, but I wonder if the aroma is really from their ovens. Lots of baked goods places use fake aroma marketing spray canisters to create the illusion of fresh baked goodies, particularly since the ovens are not firing all the time. Common in the chain outlets in airports and malls (where they really cannot vent the ovens into the indoor space).
 
mass88 said:
Not sure if this has been mentioned here previously, but Hillstone in Faneuil Hall will be closing on October 15.
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Ah that is a prime spot; I wonder what will go there. I hope it doesn't sit abandoned for too long.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Call me jaded, but I wonder if the aroma is really from their ovens. Lots of baked goods places use fake aroma marketing spray canisters to create the illusion of fresh baked goodies, particularly since the ovens are not firing all the time. Common in the chain outlets in airports and malls (where they really cannot vent the ovens into the indoor space).
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Intriguing. That said, I am familiar with vent designs, particularly for restaurants in tall and/or deep buildings where the restaurant space isn't a thru space (e.g., doesn't have front and back wall access), where the kitchen is indeed vented to the frontage street. Oftentimes going UP or BACK is not possible, so overhead vents like this type that are used as a least circuitous path from the hoods.

(I don't doubt the fake smell is also used for marketing sometimes, too)
 
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