The New Retail Thread

FK4 said:
The Craft Beer Cellar in Roslindale has closed (or will be fully shut in the next week or so). Major bummer.

I was just talking with my girlfriend about how I wondered how long it would last... it’s in a terrible location, and as much as I wish it were the case, I don’t think there’s many neighborhoods that would sustain a craft beer store of that size - and rozzie is not one of one of them.

I don’t think you necessarily need parking to have successful retail, but somehow that whole side of the square is just too dead... I think the city should have pushed for more retail arcing around the corner down Cummins, which would have livened up the whole stretch.

In the longer run, a renovation or demolition of the old civic building that houses the DMV and community space would really allow for activation of that stretch with shops, rather than a moderately attractive but imposing wall of yellow brick.
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The CBC in the Seaport has also closed.
 
No surprise, it was buried it Ft Point and never saw anyone walking in that place.
 
BosDevelop said:
Many of the local CBC's are closing. The one in Framingham on Route 9 also closed.
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I really liked them, but I was also surprised when they suddenly spread all over the place from Belmont… Craft beer may be popular, but it definitely is a niche market, especially if that’s the only thing your store sells. It’s also expensive, and so is CBC.
 
I just saw on Redfin that the lot that contains Green T Coffee is also up for sale.
 
FK4 said:
I just saw on Redfin that the lot that contains Green T Coffee is also up for sale.
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With the opening of Square Root right in the heart of the square, Green T was likely a goner, anyway. That lot isn't very big so I'm not sure whether it really could be redeveloped.
 
FK4 said:
I really liked them, but I was also surprised when they suddenly spread all over the place from Belmont… Craft beer may be popular, but it definitely is a niche market, especially if that’s the only thing your store sells. It’s also expensive, and so is CBC.
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Is it really that great of a store? I'm a big craft beer drinker and I've never set foot in a CBC. In fact, I rarely ever buy beer from a store. I mostly drink it on-site, in a taproom. If I buy any to take home, it's usually from the brewery directly. I think this is the direction craft beer has been heading for a while. Many of the better breweries have either no distribution or extremely limited distribution. And even the breweries that do distribute relatively widely only tend to distribute their core product. Night Shift owns their on distribution line, but you'll still mostly find their core beers on shelves outside of the brewery. The limited release and special stuff is almost entirely sold out of the brewery directly. While it seems pretentious to say "the best stuff isn't sold in stores," it's not really inaccurate. There's a glut of good craft beer out there, and you're hard pressed to find the best of it outside of the brewery where it's produced. So I see the "craft beer" specialty store as a very difficult business to sustain.
 
Lrfox said:
Is it really that great of a store? I'm a big craft beer drinker and I've never set foot in a CBC. In fact, I rarely ever buy beer from a store. I mostly drink it on-site, in a taproom. If I buy any to take home, it's usually from the brewery directly. I think this is the direction craft beer has been heading for a while. Many of the better breweries have either no distribution or extremely limited distribution. And even the breweries that do distribute relatively widely only tend to distribute their core product. Night Shift owns their on distribution line, but you'll still mostly find their core beers on shelves outside of the brewery. The limited release and special stuff is almost entirely sold out of the brewery directly. While it seems pretentious to say "the best stuff isn't sold in stores," it's not really inaccurate. There's a glut of good craft beer out there, and you're hard pressed to find the best of it outside of the brewery where it's produced. So I see the "craft beer" specialty store as a very difficult business to sustain.
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I liked the variety... but any shop that has a decent variety is good enough for me. I prefer shops to breweries for the variety of choice and the MUCH better hours... usually when i wind up at breweries I’m either on my bike or far enough from home or fridge that I don’t want to purchase beer. I don’t think the economic challenges a store that only sells craft beer and nothing else faces is because of people going straight to the distillery, it’s more to do with craft beer being expensive and a relatively niche market... but who knows.
 
Lrfox said:
Is it really that great of a store? I'm a big craft beer drinker and I've never set foot in a CBC. In fact, I rarely ever buy beer from a store. I mostly drink it on-site, in a taproom. If I buy any to take home, it's usually from the brewery directly. I think this is the direction craft beer has been heading for a while. Many of the better breweries have either no distribution or extremely limited distribution. And even the breweries that do distribute relatively widely only tend to distribute their core product. Night Shift owns their on distribution line, but you'll still mostly find their core beers on shelves outside of the brewery. The limited release and special stuff is almost entirely sold out of the brewery directly. While it seems pretentious to say "the best stuff isn't sold in stores," it's not really inaccurate. There's a glut of good craft beer out there, and you're hard pressed to find the best of it outside of the brewery where it's produced. So I see the "craft beer" specialty store as a very difficult business to sustain.
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Another thing that is hurting these smaller craft beer stores is that bigger stores are broadening their beer horizon so to speak. Wegmans in Westwood for example, has a pretty solid beer selection. It's not going to blow away a true beer enthusiast, but it does have a good selection of Nightshift, Lord Hobo among some others.
 
An observation about Newbury St now that the weather is nice enough again for me to lift my head: there’s a major, probably unprecedented in recent memory, vacancy contagion going on. If I were a tourist directed here by a guidebook, I’d be bitterly disappointed. What’s going on? Is high end retail moving to the seaport? Rents too damn high? Traditional retail going the way of the dodo? Can these spaces be repurposed?
 
Shepard said:
An observation about Newbury St now that the weather is nice enough again for me to lift my head: there’s a major, probably unprecedented in recent memory, vacancy contagion going on. If I were a tourist directed here by a guidebook, I’d be bitterly disappointed. What’s going on? Is high end retail moving to the seaport? Rents too damn high? Traditional retail going the way of the dodo? Can these spaces be repurposed?
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The rents on Newbury are extremely high. Banks, pharmacies and loss leaders seem to be the only retail that can last there. I don't see much in the way of critical retail mass in the Seaport yet, maybe with Echelon coming on line that will help.
 
Shepard said:
An observation about Newbury St now that the weather is nice enough again for me to lift my head: there’s a major, probably unprecedented in recent memory, vacancy contagion going on. If I were a tourist directed here by a guidebook, I’d be bitterly disappointed. What’s going on? Is high end retail moving to the seaport? Rents too damn high? Traditional retail going the way of the dodo? Can these spaces be repurposed?
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Its a phenomenon that is affecting many premium retail streets. I think Bleeker Street in NY is the quintessential example. Leases are long enough and rents rising fast enough that it makes sense for a landlord to hold out for quite a while waiting for a whale. In the meantime, the street that had been THE most desirable retail address becomes more and more derelict. At some point the rents will stop climbing and landlords will settle on new tenants, but there is no guarantee that things will go back to how they used to be.

Retail in general is weakening except for "experiential" things like bars, restaurants, and gyms. If the neighborhood association is keeping out new bars and restaurants (I believe I read an article about how that is exactly what is happening in the Back Bay), there can only be so many gyms and spas...
 
FK4 said:
I really liked them, but I was also surprised when they suddenly spread all over the place from Belmont… Craft beer may be popular, but it definitely is a niche market, especially if that’s the only thing your store sells. It’s also expensive, and so is CBC.
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I think the biggest problem CBC is that other liquor stores kept expanding their Craft Beer selection, at a cheaper price compared to CBC.
 
BosDevelop said:
Many of the local CBC's are closing. The one in Framingham on Route 9 also closed.
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The Globe has a piece today on the trouble brewing at Craft Beer Cellar. Apparently there's a bunch of conflict between franchisees and the chain's founders, and there are a whole slew of nasty accusations and lawsuits going back and forth.
 
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bigpicture7 said:
John Harvard's in Harvard Square is toast...

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2...re-location/WZQqYato59NRp2Bn4Afu5J/story.html
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I know we often malign the changes taking place in Harvard Square for good reason, but good riddance to John Harvard's. It's neither historic gem like Union Oyster, a long-time staple like Mr. Bartley's, or a dive like Mary Ann's or Sligo. It's, as a Boston Globe commenter called it, "99 that brews it's own [crappy] beer." Unless it's replaced by a bank of pharmacy, what goes in that spot will likely be an improvement.
 
A little harsh there Fox, but I agree that place didnt have many redeeming qualities. I'm surprised it was there that long it was very middling.

These places that brew their own beer but arent quite full blown breweries dont have good beers from my experience
 
Suffolk 83 said:
...I'm surprised it was there that long it was very middling...
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I'm not shedding any tears over it, but as far as the answer to your question as to how it survived this long: it was perhaps the only place in Harv. Sq. that could accommodate large parties of guests on short notice, and there's a substantial demand for that in the greater Harv. environment.

With it departing, the party-of-11 that just watched a dissertation defense and wants to go grab beers/burgers is S.o.o.L. now without a reservation. And 23-year-old low-paid grad students are bad at making reservations. Maybe that will now change.
 
bigpicture7 said:
I'm not shedding any tears over it, but as far as the answer to your question as to how it survived this long: it was perhaps the only place in Harv. Sq. that could accommodate large parties of guests on short notice, and there's a substantial demand for that in the greater Harv. environment.

With it departing, the party-of-11 that just watched a dissertation defense and wants to go grab beers/burgers is S.o.o.L. now without a reservation. And 23-year-old low-paid grad students are bad at making reservations. Maybe that will now change.
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They always had empty seats because it wasn't very popular - and that was the foundation of their longevity? :???:

I suspect the real reason is that they signed a long lease a long time ago when rents were lower. They cannot justify renewing the lease selling their same stale product.

If we are lucky, they will sell the brewhouse equipment to the next tenant and we'll get a new brewery. Probably not a brewpub this time.. More likely, this location will never be a brewery again.
 
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