The New Retail Thread

The former Walgreens space in Porter is still vacant after two years. I expect that Lesley will eventually use it for their own purposes.
 
RandomWalk said:
The former Walgreens space in Porter is still vacant after two years. I expect that Lesley will eventually use it for their own purposes.
Click to expand...

Lesley has longstanding vacant retail space in their own buildings (e.g., the half of the former City Sports space not becoming an optometrist). Why would they take up retail space in someone else's building?
 
RandomWalk said:
The former Walgreens space in Porter is still vacant after two years. I expect that Lesley will eventually use it for their own purposes.
Click to expand...

That whole shopping "center" is a bermuda triangle for some reason. It seems like nothing can last in there besides the Planet Fitness and the Potbelly.
 
mdd said:
That whole shopping "center" is a bermuda triangle for some reason. It seems like nothing can last in there besides the Planet Fitness and the Potbelly.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's an awkward spot.

The huge Porter Square shopping center across the street sucks up all the business for boring day-to-day necessities (grocery store, hardware store, pharmacy, packy, etc.), and the smaller storefronts along Mass Ave host the hipper bars and restaurants. That doesn't leave much space in the market for the "galleria". Its Somerville Ave frontage is a decent spot for downmarket chains (the eternal Anna's, the Sprint that somehow remains open, Potbelly's even though that space has had issues too) and its basement is a good cheap spot for a cheap gym. But its interior/upstairs spaces and White St frontage pose a significant challenge.

In general, it's really hard to make interior/upstairs retail space work on anything but a massive scale. Unless there's a clear "draw" people just won't bother to leave the street and go inside. The Porter Exchange Building has found its niche with the quirky little Japan/Korea town, but even that has its limits (e.g., the newly reopened sit down Japanese place in there is always empty and probably not long for this world).

Converting the "galleria" to residential probably isn't going to happen, so I wonder if they might be better off going after office tenants. I could see something like a WeWork doing well at that location. Rents would have to be lower than what a Walgreens would pay, but compared to $0 it could be worth it.
 
I know Lesley has some office space in the galleria. They seem like the natural anchor tenant for the whole building.
 
Any rumors as to what is replacing Tavern Road in Fort Point? I read that another restaurant would be taking over the lease but no details were released.
 
JumboBuc said:
Yeah, it's an awkward spot.

The huge Porter Square shopping center across the street sucks up all the business for boring day-to-day necessities (grocery store, hardware store, pharmacy, packy, etc.), and the smaller storefronts along Mass Ave host the hipper bars and restaurants. That doesn't leave much space in the market for the "galleria". Its Somerville Ave frontage is a decent spot for downmarket chains (the eternal Anna's, the Sprint that somehow remains open, Potbelly's even though that space has had issues too) and its basement is a good cheap spot for a cheap gym. But its interior/upstairs spaces and White St frontage pose a significant challenge.

In general, it's really hard to make interior/upstairs retail space work on anything but a massive scale. Unless there's a clear "draw" people just won't bother to leave the street and go inside. The Porter Exchange Building has found its niche with the quirky little Japan/Korea town, but even that has its limits (e.g., the newly reopened sit down Japanese place in there is always empty and probably not long for this world).

Converting the "galleria" to residential probably isn't going to happen, so I wonder if they might be better off going after office tenants. I could see something like a WeWork doing well at that location. Rents would have to be lower than what a Walgreens would pay, but compared to $0 it could be worth it.
Click to expand...

You guys are talking about this, right?

Want to experience that place at its most surreal/lurid/eerie? Head to Anna's Tacqueria at the base for some tasty (ideally, somewhat inebriated) late night Mexican treats. Ask for the bathroom passcode. They motion you to the bathroom in the basement of said, er, "galleria."

Late on a weekend night--when the joint should be jumping, it's urban Cambridge on a weekend!--it's utter ghost town. And the finishes/general ambiance all scream 80s mall, like you've wandered onto the set of "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" post-filming. Or, alternatively, you've wandered into Corner Mall/Porter Square.
 
Also, Taste Wine Bar just opened at 101 Summer St. in DTX, right here, in-between GNC & Supercuts. Very sleek, cool, minimalist aesthetic in the Scandanavian style (IKEA High Moderne?).

It has a pretty cool view down Devonshire St. that will get very cool in 5 or so years once 115 Winthrop Sq. rises.

[If it survives that long, of course.]
[If 115 Winthrop Sq. rises, of course.]
 
DBM said:
...And the finishes/general ambiance all scream 80s mall, like you've wandered onto the set of "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" post-filming. Or, alternatively, you've wandered into Corner Mall/Porter Square.
Click to expand...

^ This is an appropriate comparison, because the most happening thing that was ever in this complex was the large Blockbuster Video.

Wayyy back, when college kids actually weren't connected to the cloud (even before most had flip phones), that Blockbuster was packed on a given Thurs-Sun evening. Think: era when every dorm room had the requisite 13" TV/VCR combo.

Funny how this complex's overall decline captures the decline of an entire era. The '80s motif symbolizes the failure to let go - it just wasn't able to flex with the times.
 
Explorateur is close to opening on Tremont and Boylston Street! The street scape is looking great!

http://www.bostonherald.com/lifesty...oming_eatery_inspired_by_grand_european_cafes

20882769_428490367547251_5040421422720794017_n.jpg


20800336_10103566388905265_3450818778094641973_n.jpg
 
BostonDrew said:
Explorateur is close to opening on Tremont and Boylston Street! The street scape is looking great!
Click to expand...

Saw this yesterday and it REALLY looks terrific. Kudos to them on cleaning up that corner. Now if only we could do a major renovation to the corner of the Common and removed all the patched/potholed pavement...
 
cjbski said:
Saw this yesterday and it REALLY looks terrific. Kudos to them on cleaning up that corner. Now if only we could do a major renovation to the corner of the Common and removed all the patched/potholed pavement...
Click to expand...

Great addition to the streetscape! I hope the restaurant is decent (Big Night Entertainment Group -- Red Lantern, Empire, Gem...)
 
When they came in for the permit for this earlier this year I was so excited. I hate when former storefronts and windows are walled up!
 
sm89 said:
When they came in for the permit for this earlier this year I was so excited. I hate when former storefronts and windows are walled up!
Click to expand...

Probably an all-time record [if somewhat dubious one?] for Boston in terms of how long that former storefront had been "entombed" behind the wall. I was told the last tenant was a Bickfords. I'm guessing it closed once the Combat Zone really got roaring--no later than, what, 1975?

So we're looking at a minimum of 40 years of deactivated storefront...
 
Same goes for Washington st, bromfield st...frustrating
 
Dont know how many sneaker fans we have in the forum, but Concepts will be revealing their new Boston store this week. They have a little scavenger hunt of sorts going on in the instagram world.

https://www.instagram.com/cncpts/?hl=en

For those that dont know Concepts is viewed as one of the premier stores in the sneaker world.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top