The New Retail Thread

BronsonShore said:
This is it, right here. Just take a simple look at Google Maps and you'll see that this area sticks out like a sore thumb due of the massive footprints of these buildings. The State Transportation Building, Motor Mart, Liberty Mutual building, and the Park Plaza are all bigger than just about any other building in the CBD.
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And the Revere Hotel with the massive parking structure! Even One Charles isn't exactly a dainty footprint.
 
JeffDowntown said:
I think it is telling that the former large restaurant space in the Revere Hotel (historically the 57 Restaurant and Rustic Kitchen) is becoming a furniture showroom.
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Which furniture company? There's actually quite the furniture district there: a couple big show rooms on Arlington, one on Berkeley, on in that red brick on Stuart on Park Sq. Perhaps is best and highest use.
 
curcuas said:
Which furniture company? There's actually quite the furniture district there: a couple big show rooms on Arlington, one on Berkeley, on in that red brick on Stuart on Park Sq. Perhaps is best and highest use.
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Minotti. Their third US showroom location. (Others are NYC and Miami.) There is also the SieMatic showroom in One Charles and Ligne Roset in the Four Seasons, both on Charles Street South.
 
I just got an email this afternoon from the ShowPlace Icon in the Seaport. This one makes me sad. It really was a beautiful theater that barely had a chance to establish itself as the neighborhood grew around it and the Pandemic hit. I used to love walking out of the auditoriums into the lobby and seeing the financial district in the distance all lit up. It may be a long-shot, but I hope some other theater operator can scoop up the space and make a go of it as we emerge out of COVID.

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Honestly impressive how many furniture stores are in this area (and Roche Bobois just out of frame).

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^ And the map doesn't capture the new Minotti and the kitchen design store SieMatic in One Charles, both in frame as well!
 
Furniture District... I've always thought it is a bit weird, but I guess they get enough business to survive with the rents?
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
I guess the old-crust residents of the Back Bay really don't like hanging with the plebes at Stoughton Ikea on a lazy Saturday.
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Maybe... I walk by these places a lot and have never seen anyone in them. OTOH, there are a lot of units around this area too so it sort of makes sense to have furniture stores that cater to this market.
 
meddlepal said:
Maybe... I walk by these places a lot and have never seen anyone in them. OTOH, there are a lot of units around this area too so it sort of makes sense to have furniture stores that cater to this market.
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Bet they make most of their bank selling custom-built furniture to folks with enough spare cash to burn to both afford a swank Back Bay residence and use the cash wads as kindling for their period-piece in-unit fireplaces. The lightly-trafficked showrooms may just be an optics cost of doing business while the designer commissions for custom furnishings are what pays off the megabucks storefront leases in those locations.

If you've got the status symbol of living in the Back Bay to flex around, wouldn't you also want to lord over the design of every groove in the hope chest you have perfectly fitted for that corner nook of the study?
 
What's been going on with Ann Taylor at the Shops at Prudential? I walked past it the other day and it seems like it's closed and a new *something* is going in its spot (white temporary boarding.) Unless, they're just pulling off another new remodel or something.
 
squidman1 said:
What's been going on with Ann Taylor at the Shops at Prudential? I walked past it the other day and it seems like it's closed and a new *something* is going in its spot (white temporary boarding.) Unless, they're just pulling off another new remodel or something.
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Ann Taylor (Ascena) filed for bankruptcy in July 2020, closing many of its stores. The stores that remained open were acquired by another company (Sycamore) last fall.
 
#bancars said:
Update on Kenmore Square:

www.bostonglobe.com

NYC-based Blue Ribbon Group to replace Eastern Standard, other restaurants that left Kenmore Square - The Boston Globe

The announcement comes after a four-year battle between UrbanMeritage and restaurateur Garrett Harker and his business partners over renegotiating their lease, which had been set to expire in 2022.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
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I'm REALLY pulling for Eastern Standard to pop back up in some new location, not that it was the greatest of all time but it was local and had good vibes
 
Suffolk 83 said:
I'm REALLY pulling for Eastern Standard to pop back up in some new location, not that it was the greatest of all time but it was local and had good vibes
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I second this. I'm of the right age to remember Kenmore pre-Hotel Commonwealth, while still a single young(ish) professional when E.S. first launched. So I share nostalgia for what was there, but also came to deeply respect Eastern Standard. In reading Globe comments., etc., there seems to be this bifurcation of readers into the cranky older folks category who thought E.S. was nothing special and looked back at gritty kenmore with rose-colored glasses, VS. millennials who loved E.S. and had never heard of The Rat. These groups talk past each other, with the older folks particularly perturbed about Hotel Commonwealth in general.

I see it differently. Yes, Hotel Comm. has serious lack-of-character issues, etc., and I wish another design spanned that block. But the H.C. developer is not the same people who ran Eastern Standard. The latter simply did its job extremely well: a very nice, but unpretentious and local-enough experience that was a sure bet anytime you needed it (i.e., friends from out of town, graduation dinner, business meeting, breakfast meeting, cocktails with an old coworker). I am hard-pressed to think of another joint that felt as special, yet wasn't full-of-crap-pretentious, and as decent a value. You just felt good going there. I do not expect this big chain operation that's taking it over to be able to replicate that in any substantive way. In sum., E.S. has nothing to do with old Kenmore/new Kenmore/etc...it was it's own thing, and did it well.

I share Suffolk's hope. There is definitely a place for this kind of establishment elsewhere in the city. Let's hope it's recreated, with original branding intact.
 
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Suffolk 83 said:
I'm REALLY pulling for Eastern Standard to pop back up in some new location, not that it was the greatest of all time but it was local and had good vibes
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There's a non-compete agreement in force preventing Eastern Standard from re-opening within two miles of Kenmore Square for the next two years. But beyond that, I have a good feeling that we'll see Eastern Standard come back somewhere.
 
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