What is Marina Rinaldi?
The New Retail Thread
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What is Marina Rinaldi?
Ron Newman
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Who's taking over the City Convenience? I can't read the sign on the door.
Wanted to see if Prada has shelved it's Boston plans due to the economy. If did they purchased that garage space, I wonder if they are just waiting until things start to turn around before putting its plans in motion.
It's interesting that the Mandarin Oriental shops haven't been able to fill the remaining shops. I guess they opened at the worst time possible.
Any news on where Louis Boston is going (they move out in the spring of next year, correct?) and who may be looking at the current location?
JohnAKeith
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Oh, btw, Stephi's on Tremont (restaurant, like Stephanie's on Tremont) is now open in the South End.
Subway's floor is three steps up from the sidewalk. Check out the amount of wheelchair ramp, railing and pickets generated by the code to respond to that fact. Intimate relationship between sidewalk and shop window, eh?
czsz
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I've had this argument with ablarc before. From what I remember, we were able to reach a consensus that we shouldn't discriminate against the handicapped, but shouldn't commit aesthetic malfeasances, either. I've seen some handsome wheelchair-accessible ramps - the best by far being Le Corbusier's at the Carpenter Center, of course, but the best purpose-designed one is actually in Radcliffe Quad. The problem is that we can't expect every small business to be able to afford the kind of chic ramp design that's available to institutions like Harvard.
A better solution for Subway here might have been to lower the ground floor of the shop, or at least the entrance, and let it taper up gently toward the ground floor. What was this building that it's high off the sidewalk like this, anyway?
I give them plaudits for thinking of this, though. The ADA doesn't apply retroactively, which is why most of the upstairs-downstairs stores on Newbury Street are charmingly inaccessible to the handicapped. This must have been Subway's own initiative.
A better solution for Subway here might have been to lower the ground floor of the shop, or at least the entrance, and let it taper up gently toward the ground floor. What was this building that it's high off the sidewalk like this, anyway?
I give them plaudits for thinking of this, though. The ADA doesn't apply retroactively, which is why most of the upstairs-downstairs stores on Newbury Street are charmingly inaccessible to the handicapped. This must have been Subway's own initiative.
A bunch of the buildings on this side of the street were built similarly, with a full basement that's ground level at the rear. Perhaps it was cheaper or for stock loading?
kz1000ps
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Meanwhile, in Harvard Square..
Despite store closings, square keeps dealing
By Victoria Leenders-Cheng
Globe Correspondent / March 8, 2009
The state of the economy is given visual punch in and around Harvard Square, where prominent storefronts stand empty amid the bustle of tourists and hurrying students.
The gutted Bowl & Board store lies sprawled at the easternmost edge of the square, while the Crate & Barrel's former location on Brattle Street towers in vacant majesty. The windows are papered over at Cross and adorned with "To Lease" signs where Z Square once stood, just around the corner from each other at JFK and Brattle streets. The Alpha Omega store at the heart of the square, too, remains unoccupied.
Appearances, however, can be deceiving, said Denise Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, who added that for stores in the area, it is business as usual. Indeed, for many, business is better than ever.
"I can't comment on the sentiments of people walking through the square, but we had a restaurant committee meeting last Tuesday and they said that this past Saturday was their best night in years," she said. "I don't mean to be looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, but we're OK."
Jillson said Harvard Square continues to be busy perhaps because "people don't have the money to go to Vermont or Europe or Disney, but they still need to experience something fun, outdoorsy, and quirky."
Some observers say that such store closings were inevitable in the district's cut-throat and highly priced retail environment.
Mark Giarrusso, owner of the Bowl & Board, said, "Harvard Square got a little too upscale."
"Leases went up and price points went up," he said, and a slowdown in retail sales was the final ingredient creating a financially untenable situation for many business owners.
Giarrusso characterized the vacancies in Harvard Square as a market correction.
While apologizing for prophesying doom, he said, "You have to have disaster and failure first, and the property and business owners regroup, rents come down, and people take risks and bring back the funky stores that keep the area fun and hip."
Almost in concert with the timeline of the economic downturn, a series of storefronts in Harvard Square, including Bowl & Board, have broadcast that now-familiar mixed message of shopping bargains and struggling retail over the past year.
Alpha Omega's apocalypse-style sale placards floated around the T station in early 2008, "store closing" signs at the Bowl & Board surfaced later in the year, and 75 percent off banners hung in Cross in January.
"We're living in a tough time, and a lot of businesses can't afford the rent," said Sheldon Cohen, who ran Out of Town News until 1994.
Cohen also publishes an annual map of the city that is dependent on advertisers, many of whom are located in Harvard Square, and he has watched the area's businesses come and go.
Still, Cohen noted that some advertisers declined to buy space on the map this year because of the economic downturn. "Some people use [the downturn] as leverage not to be bothered with you," he said.
Debate about high rents - always a sore topic - and the presence of national chain stores in the square resurfaced when Crate & Barrel closed its well-known Brattle Street glass doors in January.
Jillson pointed out that more than 80 percent of the businesses in Harvard Square are either locally owned independents or regional chain stores. She said two recent closings, Z Square and Life is Good, are regional chains.
"Z Square went out of business, and people loved that restaurant, but if you ask people who know this stuff, it was just poor planning," she said. "And the Life is Good concept in that location never really worked. Sometimes you get a location that's inappropriate for the kind of business it is."
Whatever the relationship between the nation's economy and fortunes of businesses in the square, Jillson and Cohen, both veterans of the industry, emphasized the importance of remaining optimistic.
"I keep going," said Cohen. "I look for new people and new ideas - you have to give in order to succeed."
"People continue to need things and they need to eat," Jillson said, adding that new additions to Harvard Square, such as Crema Caf? and Passport Boutique, a travel goods store, have so far been successful.
Noting that both of those enterprises are run by young women, she added, "The Harvard Square Business Association used to be the Harvard Square Businessmen's Association," emphasizing the word "men."
"But it's women who are really running the square now. They're merchandising their product and making it."
A lesson, perhaps, for the folks still trying to steer the country out of that deepening recession.
Link
Despite store closings, square keeps dealing
By Victoria Leenders-Cheng
Globe Correspondent / March 8, 2009
The state of the economy is given visual punch in and around Harvard Square, where prominent storefronts stand empty amid the bustle of tourists and hurrying students.
The gutted Bowl & Board store lies sprawled at the easternmost edge of the square, while the Crate & Barrel's former location on Brattle Street towers in vacant majesty. The windows are papered over at Cross and adorned with "To Lease" signs where Z Square once stood, just around the corner from each other at JFK and Brattle streets. The Alpha Omega store at the heart of the square, too, remains unoccupied.
Appearances, however, can be deceiving, said Denise Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, who added that for stores in the area, it is business as usual. Indeed, for many, business is better than ever.
"I can't comment on the sentiments of people walking through the square, but we had a restaurant committee meeting last Tuesday and they said that this past Saturday was their best night in years," she said. "I don't mean to be looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, but we're OK."
Jillson said Harvard Square continues to be busy perhaps because "people don't have the money to go to Vermont or Europe or Disney, but they still need to experience something fun, outdoorsy, and quirky."
Some observers say that such store closings were inevitable in the district's cut-throat and highly priced retail environment.
Mark Giarrusso, owner of the Bowl & Board, said, "Harvard Square got a little too upscale."
"Leases went up and price points went up," he said, and a slowdown in retail sales was the final ingredient creating a financially untenable situation for many business owners.
Giarrusso characterized the vacancies in Harvard Square as a market correction.
While apologizing for prophesying doom, he said, "You have to have disaster and failure first, and the property and business owners regroup, rents come down, and people take risks and bring back the funky stores that keep the area fun and hip."
Almost in concert with the timeline of the economic downturn, a series of storefronts in Harvard Square, including Bowl & Board, have broadcast that now-familiar mixed message of shopping bargains and struggling retail over the past year.
Alpha Omega's apocalypse-style sale placards floated around the T station in early 2008, "store closing" signs at the Bowl & Board surfaced later in the year, and 75 percent off banners hung in Cross in January.
"We're living in a tough time, and a lot of businesses can't afford the rent," said Sheldon Cohen, who ran Out of Town News until 1994.
Cohen also publishes an annual map of the city that is dependent on advertisers, many of whom are located in Harvard Square, and he has watched the area's businesses come and go.
Still, Cohen noted that some advertisers declined to buy space on the map this year because of the economic downturn. "Some people use [the downturn] as leverage not to be bothered with you," he said.
Debate about high rents - always a sore topic - and the presence of national chain stores in the square resurfaced when Crate & Barrel closed its well-known Brattle Street glass doors in January.
Jillson pointed out that more than 80 percent of the businesses in Harvard Square are either locally owned independents or regional chain stores. She said two recent closings, Z Square and Life is Good, are regional chains.
"Z Square went out of business, and people loved that restaurant, but if you ask people who know this stuff, it was just poor planning," she said. "And the Life is Good concept in that location never really worked. Sometimes you get a location that's inappropriate for the kind of business it is."
Whatever the relationship between the nation's economy and fortunes of businesses in the square, Jillson and Cohen, both veterans of the industry, emphasized the importance of remaining optimistic.
"I keep going," said Cohen. "I look for new people and new ideas - you have to give in order to succeed."
"People continue to need things and they need to eat," Jillson said, adding that new additions to Harvard Square, such as Crema Caf? and Passport Boutique, a travel goods store, have so far been successful.
Noting that both of those enterprises are run by young women, she added, "The Harvard Square Business Association used to be the Harvard Square Businessmen's Association," emphasizing the word "men."
"But it's women who are really running the square now. They're merchandising their product and making it."
A lesson, perhaps, for the folks still trying to steer the country out of that deepening recession.
Link
kz1000ps
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Chefs tickled by prospect of fresh produce by the Pru
March 8, 2009
Gucci, Lacoste, Saks Fifth Avenue - and tomatoes?
This summer, Prudential Center shoppers, tourists, and neighbors could be picking up their evening's dinner just steps from the mall.
Dave Gilson, owner of the Herb Lyceum at Gilson's restaurant in Groton, is working with owner Boston Properties to open a farmers' market on the building's cement plaza bordering Boylston Street.
The market, which would run on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., would be directly managed by 14 vendors, including six to eight farmers. Vendors who have signed on to the project sell products like Asian greens, mozzarella cheese, chocolates, bread, baked goods, and high-end desserts.
It has also sparked interest from Legal Seafoods, whose Prudential Center executive chef, Kevin Watson, has committed to buying fresh foods from the market to use in his cooking, Gilson said. Chefs from Sel De La Terre and L'Espalier have also expressed interest, he said.
"People are more conscious and conscientious about where their food comes from, where it had to travel," said Gilson, who hopes to get the Boylston Street market running by May 21. "The best tasting produce you can get is when it goes from its vine or soil to you in the shortest amount of time."
That's one reason why the market, which is still awaiting permission for parking in the area, would become one of nearly 200 markets in the state this year - including one Tuesdays and Fridays at Copley Square - up from 100 markets statewide in 2003, said Jeff Cole, executive director of the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets, of which Gilson is a board member.
MAGGIE CASSIDY
Link
March 8, 2009
Gucci, Lacoste, Saks Fifth Avenue - and tomatoes?
This summer, Prudential Center shoppers, tourists, and neighbors could be picking up their evening's dinner just steps from the mall.
Dave Gilson, owner of the Herb Lyceum at Gilson's restaurant in Groton, is working with owner Boston Properties to open a farmers' market on the building's cement plaza bordering Boylston Street.
The market, which would run on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., would be directly managed by 14 vendors, including six to eight farmers. Vendors who have signed on to the project sell products like Asian greens, mozzarella cheese, chocolates, bread, baked goods, and high-end desserts.
It has also sparked interest from Legal Seafoods, whose Prudential Center executive chef, Kevin Watson, has committed to buying fresh foods from the market to use in his cooking, Gilson said. Chefs from Sel De La Terre and L'Espalier have also expressed interest, he said.
"People are more conscious and conscientious about where their food comes from, where it had to travel," said Gilson, who hopes to get the Boylston Street market running by May 21. "The best tasting produce you can get is when it goes from its vine or soil to you in the shortest amount of time."
That's one reason why the market, which is still awaiting permission for parking in the area, would become one of nearly 200 markets in the state this year - including one Tuesdays and Fridays at Copley Square - up from 100 markets statewide in 2003, said Jeff Cole, executive director of the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets, of which Gilson is a board member.
MAGGIE CASSIDY
Link
JohnAKeith
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You know, I have to agree with the line about Legal Seafoods, having just two locations in the mall (and a third down the street in the Theatre District) just isn't enough.
Not much.
Haymarket is much cheaper, and you always get at least some produce that's damaged or over the hill. Appeals to families on tight budgets, especially the recently-arrived.
Farmers Markets appeal more to yuppies and BoBos.
Haymarket is much cheaper, and you always get at least some produce that's damaged or over the hill. Appeals to families on tight budgets, especially the recently-arrived.
Farmers Markets appeal more to yuppies and BoBos.
Ron Newman
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re Harvard Square: so why did Z Square fail? It always seemed busy whenever I went in there or just passed by it.
czsz
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It looks like a combination of bad management and licensing problems:
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=526247
There appear to be conflicting sources on whether it will reopen...
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=526247
There appear to be conflicting sources on whether it will reopen...
underground
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The Z Square closing was weird. At first they had a sign on their door saying that they had an electrical problem and that they'd open up the next day. That sign stayed up for a week or two and was eventually replaced by another saying that they were out of business.
As for Haymarket, to echo Ablarc, it'll be fine. People mistake it for a farmer's market, but it's not at all. The rumour is that most of the stuff is remainders from Shaws, Stop and Shop, etc. Cheap for sure, but not necessarily local or organic.
As for Haymarket, to echo Ablarc, it'll be fine. People mistake it for a farmer's market, but it's not at all. The rumour is that most of the stuff is remainders from Shaws, Stop and Shop, etc. Cheap for sure, but not necessarily local or organic.