The New Retail Thread

bigpicture7 said:
This news is a few days old now, but I don't think I saw it on aB:

Tesla will be closing its 888 Boylston St. retail store, along with most of its other stores worldwide in a shift back to a primarily-online sales platform:

https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2019/03/01/in-u-turn-tesla-closing-retail-stores.html

This will vacate the front-and-center 888 Boylston retail slot at the gateway to the Pru
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The article says that
there will be “a small number of stores in high-traffic locations remaining as galleries, showcases and Tesla information centers.”

It’s not clear whether the Boston, Dedham or Natick locations would fit that description.
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Have you seen it reported elsewhere that the Boston location is definitely closing?
 
Yup grew up going to Harvard sq with friends...we’d head straight to the garage for cafe A and newbury comics etc, then tannery/concepts. Structure, gap...took my family from out of town there recently (I haven’t been in years) and I was embarrassed at how seedy and boring it felt.
 
617 said:
Yup grew up going to Harvard sq with friends...we’d head straight to the garage for cafe A and newbury comics etc, then tannery/concepts. Structure, gap...took my family from out of town there recently (I haven’t been in years) and I was embarrassed at how seedy and boring it felt.
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boring, yes. seedy? for real? do you really ever feel "in danger" in present-day harvard square? you feel harvard square in 2019 is "squalid" or "rough"? it's about as squalid as a shopping-mall food court.

"adjective
1.
sordid and disreputable.
"his seedy affair with a soft-porn starlet"
synonyms: sordid, disreputable, seamy, sleazy, corrupt, shameful, low, dark, squalid, unwholesome, unsavory, rough, mean, nasty, unpleasant"
 
617 said:
Yup grew up going to Harvard sq with friends...we’d head straight to the garage for cafe A and newbury comics etc, then tannery/concepts. Structure, gap...took my family from out of town there recently (I haven’t been in years) and I was embarrassed at how seedy and boring it felt.
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The only thing embarrassing here is how profoundly misguided the perception of "boring" is. I lived there for a year about a decade ago. I have no vested interest in shilling for it other than my innumerable happy memories:

--getting hot chocolate at Burdick's on a bitter winter night
--browsing the array of delectables at Cardullo's
--sitting on the rooftop bar of Daedalus on a hot summer night
--sitting at the Legal's Seafood summertime patio bar on a hot summer night
--John Havard's alehouse anytime (but especially in winter)
--Grendel's anytime (but especially in winter)
--Charlie's Kitchen anytime (but summer is better)
--Berryline's scumptious frozen yogurt on a hot summer night
--Border Cafe (especially on a hot summer night)
--Russell House Tavern & Grafton Street pub anytime
--Pamplona on a hot summer night--exquisite sidewalk cafe ambiance
--taking in a show at the Sinclair
--getting to Otto in time for a quick slice of pizza right after a show at the Sinclair
--Bendetto's for a special occasion (truly fine dining)
--Felipe's anytime
--Shay's patio on a hot summer night

Are you sure you've been to Harvard Square?
 
Can anyone give a general time period when Harvard Square died?

i was gone surfing ~16 years.
 
mass88 said:
What's going on up there? Rents too high for the smaller, independents to survive?
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When landlords raise rents to insane levels just as an economy stagnates prior to a recession...

At least they're about to get that greed slapped out of them pretty hard, soon.
 
chrisbrat said:
boring, yes. seedy? for real? do you really ever feel "in danger" in present-day harvard square? you feel harvard square in 2019 is "squalid" or "rough"? it's about as squalid as a shopping-mall food court.

"adjective
1.
sordid and disreputable.
"his seedy affair with a soft-porn starlet"
synonyms: sordid, disreputable, seamy, sleazy, corrupt, shameful, low, dark, squalid, unwholesome, unsavory, rough, mean, nasty, unpleasant"
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Yes seedy, rough, unpleasant...downtown crossing feels seedy as well...never said I felt unsafe, but when empty storefronts with homeless camps out front are 1:1 with the same amount of functioning retail it makes the area seedy. The difference is that DTX is actually improved from how it was years ago while Harvard has declined.
 
DBM said:
The only thing embarrassing here is how profoundly misguided the perception of "boring" is. I lived there for a year about a decade ago. I have no vested interest in shilling for it other than my innumerable happy memories:

--getting hot chocolate at Burdick's on a bitter winter night
--browsing the array of delectables at Cardullo's
--sitting on the rooftop bar of Daedalus on a hot summer night
--sitting at the Legal's Seafood summertime patio bar on a hot summer night
--John Havard's alehouse anytime (but especially in winter)
--Grendel's anytime (but especially in winter)
--Charlie's Kitchen anytime (but summer is better)
--Berryline's scumptious frozen yogurt on a hot summer night
--Border Cafe (especially on a hot summer night)
--Russell House Tavern & Grafton Street pub anytime
--Pamplona on a hot summer night--exquisite sidewalk cafe ambiance
--taking in a show at the Sinclair
--getting to Otto in time for a quick slice of pizza right after a show at the Sinclair
--Bendetto's for a special occasion (truly fine dining)
--Felipe's anytime
--Shay's patio on a hot summer night

Are you sure you've been to Harvard Square?
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I’m with you. That video rightly pointed out an abundance of banks and a handful of vacant storefronts. While we should advocate for improvements on those fronts, 90% of what’s going on in Harvard falls in a range between “fine” and “awesome”
 
^ It seems promising. I've not met the Weinstein's but I know some folks who speak very highly of them. I look forward to studying their malt list.
 
Looks like they area bout to fix up the former Barne's & Noble store across for the Millenium Tower. I wonder what will go in there.
 
Jahvon09 said:
Looks like they area bout to fix up the former Barne's & Noble store across for the Millenium Tower. I wonder what will go in there.
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I haven't seen any news about tenants (apart from being misinformed that this would be an H&M a few years back), but this is under new ownership as of 2017 and is undergoing renovations to attract retail and office tenants. It's been rebranded to "DTX 399" https://www.bldup.com/projects/395-403-washington-street
 
Lrfox said:
I haven't seen any news about tenants (apart from being misinformed that this would be an H&M a few years back), but this is under new ownership as of 2017 and is undergoing renovations to attract retail and office tenants. It's been rebranded to "DTX 399" https://www.bldup.com/projects/395-403-washington-street
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I work in DTX and I'm fairly certain absolutely no work has been done on that facade. It's been wrapped up forever (a year now) and I've never seen a single person working in the scaffolding.
 
datadyne007 said:
I work in DTX and I'm fairly certain absolutely no work has been done on that facade. It's been wrapped up forever (a year now) and I've never seen a single person working in the scaffolding.
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That's too bad. I wonder if they're waiting on tenants?
 
Lrfox said:
That's too bad. I wonder if they're waiting on tenants?
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I think the landlord's strategy must be wait long enough to lease it so that book stores are popular once again and Barnes & Noble can just take the space back.
 
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