The New Retail Thread

tysmith95 said:
Or Cosi recently.

Downtown Boston rents are high and there is a ton of competition. Only the strong survive.
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That's one way of looking at it.

The other way of looking at it is:

"If you can find a way to occupy every possible retail location in a given region, and drive your competitors out with low prices, then you can eventually dramatically reduce your customers other options, and thereby get away with finally raising prices once you're almost the only game in town, and then charge 5 bucks for a cup of coffee for years and years, until your customers finally get frustrated and leave you out of pure spite, and go back to bringing their own in a thermos"

And yes I'm looking at you, Dunkies.
 
CSTH said:
"If you can find a way to occupy every possible retail location in a given region, and drive your competitors out with low prices, then you can eventually dramatically reduce your customers other options, and thereby get away with finally raising prices once you're almost the only game in town, and then charge 5 bucks for a cup of coffee for years and years, until your customers finally get frustrated and leave you out of pure spite, and go back to bringing their own in a thermos"

And yes I'm looking at you, Dunkies.
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That works in the suburbs.

In the city the competition is so fierce that you have banks opening up coffee shops and trying to advertise credit cards when you buy a coffee.
 
CSTH said:
That's one way of looking at it.

The other way of looking at it is:

"If you can find a way to occupy every possible retail location in a given region, and drive your competitors out with low prices, then you can eventually dramatically reduce your customers other options, and thereby get away with finally raising prices once you're almost the only game in town, and then charge 5 bucks for a cup of coffee for years and years, until your customers finally get frustrated and leave you out of pure spite, and go back to bringing their own in a thermos"

And yes I'm looking at you, Dunkies.
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Has anyone else noticed that a donut at Dunks is smaller than it use to be and 50% more expensive?
 
Interesting note: Converse on Newbury Street posted a sign saying they are permanently closed and directing people to Lovejoy Wharf. There is a TON of vacancy up and down that part of the street.
 
Two other Seaport retail updates:
1. A new Mexican restaurant called Pink Taco announced plans to open in Boston, somewhere in the Seaport/Fort Point Channel neighborhoods - http://bostonrestaurants.blogspot.com/2018/03/pink-taco-appears-to-be-on-its-way-to.html

2. LL Bean should be opening the first week of April

And in the spirit of (relatively) new Seaport restaurant openings, not necessarily ringing endorsements of Lola 42 or Mastros.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifesty...-known-city/17KZWtFqOwzggxqE7gE8XP/story.html
 
Interesting note: Converse on Newbury Street posted a sign saying they are permanently closed and directing people to Lovejoy Wharf. There is a TON of vacancy up and down that part of the street.
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I wonder if Newbury Street is going to be able to adapt with the internet age. There are luxury internet retailers.

Personally, I rarely have a reason to go to Newbury Street as a resident. I'd love if the street turned into more of restaurant a bar mecca in the 21st century... Newbury Street becoming like 6th Street in Austin would be amazing.
 
Have we not reached critcal mass with Mexican/Spanish restaurants in Seaport/Fort Point? Papagayo listed this as a reason they closed in Fort Point.

Tez
La Casa de Pedro
Rosa Mexicana
Scorpion
Lolita
Bartaco (opening in Ft Point)
Pink Taco (opening)
 
The thing about Pret is that it's not cheap! (Actually, their coffee is a good deal, but I find it to be a bit over-roasted.) The sandwiches, salads, and bowls are expensive and most of them are cold. I know they're organic, but the portions are small, and I end up spending like $13 for a lunch that doesn't even fill me up. Meanwhile, I can go to Bon Me and spend $8-$10 and get a nice sized portion of freshly cooked hot food.
 
meddlepal said:
I wonder if Newbury Street is going to be able to adapt with the internet age. There are luxury internet retailers.

Personally, I rarely have a reason to go to Newbury Street as a resident. I'd love if the street turned into more of restaurant a bar mecca in the 21st century... Newbury Street becoming like 6th Street in Austin would be amazing.
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I think the problem with Newbury is that it's become a tourist destination with not much to offer other than a quaint Back Bay street front. The majority of the shops are something you could find in an upscale California strip mall and the restaurants serve overpriced, mediocre food. There's no reason to go once the novelty has worn off.

I agree if it became more bar/restaurant focused with good, reasonably priced food, it would be much more popular and somewhere I'd actually want to go.
 
Pink Taco as in the place in the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas? Interesting..... I put the over/under on 30 months unless there is enough overflow traffic from the better places in the area to hang on for a bit longer or they can sell enough liquor to make the $ work.
 
tysmith95 said:
Do any local people actually shop on Newbury Street? I don't lol.
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Where in the Back Bay are you living?

There are plenty of local residents who live in the area and drive the two blocks around the corner to the shops.
 
falcon42 said:
Have we not reached critcal mass with Mexican/Spanish restaurants in Seaport/Fort Point? Papagayo listed this as a reason they closed in Fort Point.

Tez
La Casa de Pedro
Rosa Mexicana
Scorpion
Lolita
Bartaco (opening in Ft Point)
Pink Taco (opening)
Click to expand...

Maybe. But those are all fairly different places. Temazal is more upscale Mexican and focuses on the Tequila selection. Pedro is more than Mexican (it bills itself as Latin cuisine), Rosa is a chain and has a pretty standard menu with tableside guac and margaritas. Scorpion and Lolita are more lounge/nightclubby and the food isn't the focal point. Bartaco is definitely more of a laid back, casual vibe (though not "cheap") focusing on tacos and smaller plates. It's good, and pretty much what you'd expect a sit down hipster taco restaurant to look like. I know nothing about Pink Taco (if my girlfriend were here she'd be nodding in agreement). So they're not really redundant.

But I think there's an overall dearth of restaurants city-wide now. I've been trying to make reservations for Saturday night all week. There's nothing available at any place really good. The Seaport is a big time food destination and I don't see the end in sight for the proliferation of restaurants there.
 
Yes they are all slightly different but all the same genre. For example, each has overlapping menu options. The owner of Papagayo specifically stated the saturation of similar food options as why they left the Seaport, assuming sales were slumping.
 
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