The New Retail Thread

For all the education they claim to have gotten, hipsters are one dumb-fucking subset of society.
 
If you actually look at the Census numbers so far it isn't hipsters that are the issue, it's the Jews. The Ultra-Orthodox Hasidic jews who live in South Williamsburg have the lowest return rate in the city. The NRP piece mentions this but are more focused on bashing hipsters cause it's a cool thing to do (and the hipsters are also more likely to be listening to NPR).
 
Friendly's Express is coming to Coolidge Corner, at the old McDonalds / Qdoba spot.

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On the one hand, Friendly's originates as a good local brand. On the other hand, the perception of it is pretty downmarket, and this "express" concept turns it into fast food. While it's a definite step above McD or BK, it isn't necessarily clear whether there is demand in that neighborhood for fast food burgers. Ice cream is already covered by JP Licks.

This is very similar to the Papa Gino's "express-style" format opening up in Brookline Village. It strikes me as too downmarket a brand for the area while also not really filling an uncatered niche.

Will be interesting to see if these work out. Regardless, rents are so high in Coolidge Corner that national chains may be the only new tenants moving in...
 
Monday, November 30, 2009
Two More Possible Boston Restaurant Openings: Whiskey Priest, The Citizen

A couple more restaurants may be coming to Boston, though it appears that both places are in the very early stages of planning, with little or no information on either one at this point.

The first restaurant (and bar) looks to be called The Whiskey Priest, and it will be opening at some point at 150 Northern Avenue in the Seaport District of Boston. The Whiskey Priest will be replacing a spot called the Seaport Bar and Grille, which has been at this location for a number of years. [April 16 update: According to UrbanDaddy Boston, The Whiskey Priest is having a soft opening tonight.]

The second restaurant may go by the name The Citizen: An American Gastropub, with its tentative location at 1330 Boylston Street in the heart of the Fenway neighborhood of Boston (just south of Fenway Park). 1330 Boylston is a mixed-use complex with luxury apartments as well as retail space on the ground floor (a location of the Upper Crust Pizzeria is in the building). [December 11 update: According to the Boston Herald, one of the owners of The Franklin Cafe in the South End is behind the proposed opening of The Citizen, which will likely be a similar restaurant to The Franklin, although a bit less expensive. The article mentions that, if approved, the restaurant could have up to 80 seats plus an outdoor dining area.]
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http://www.bostonrestaurants.blogspot.com/2009/11/two-more-possible-boston-restaurant.html
 
"Gastropub" does not sound appetizing, I'm sorry.
 
Boston Globe - May 17, 2010
Spring revival on Newbury Street

By Johnny Diaz, Globe Staff | May 17, 2010

Boston?s most coveted retail address is back on the map.

So far this year, more than a dozen new shops have opened on Newbury Street ? from Cotelac women?s apparel to British clothier Ben Sherman ? giving the street a 95 percent occupancy rate among more than 300 retail properties.

An additional 14 businesses are coming this year, including Converse, Levi?s, Jack Wills clothing, and Met Bar & Grill.

?Newbury is still hot,?? said Tom Brennan, vice president of C. Talanian Realty Co., which owns and manages about 30 properties on Newbury. ?The best locations are the last to drop and the first to come back.??

It is certainly a reversal of fortune for Newbury Street.

The influx of businesses comes about a year after several chain stores, galleries, and boutiques closed along the street, renowned for its historic charm and haute mix of luxury shops, salons, and restaurants, which stretch eight blocks from Arlington Street to Massachusetts Avenue. Gaping holes were left as retailers like the Gap and LouisBoston departed, causing Newbury?s occupancy rate to fall to about 80 percent.

Real estate observers and merchants say many of the businesses left because of sluggish sales during a deep recession that made it difficult to afford the rent, which, depending on the block, can be from $50 to $240 per square foot.

Newbury Street has the highest retail rents in Boston, according to city officials.

But the departures opened up prime retail space that city officials and property owners could pitch to international brands looking to establish a presence on Newbury. Indeed, some of the new entrants, including British clothiers AllSaints Spitafields and Ted Baker, are based in Europe, and their Newbury stores are the first in New England.

?It?s aggressive promotion and leasing,?? said Meg Mainzer-Cohen, president of the Back Bay Association, which spent $20,000 to launch a website last summer to better market Newbury and the Back Bay as destinations for ?culture, cuisine, couture, and commerce.??

UrbanMeritage, which owns 22 buildings on Newbury, has been aggressively courting tenants. The company in August launched a website, thenewburyline.com, to better promote the 02116 ZIP code as a shopping destination.

Michael Jammen, principal of UrbanMeritage, said it has spent $200,000 on the website and neighborhood branding.

?The level of marketing to go and attract those tenants is much more sophisticated than the old guard of Newbury Street who simply stick a sign in the window and wait for someone to call.??

The UrbanMeritage promotion, he said, targeted retail conferences domestically as well as overseas, where Newbury Street is already something of a brand name.

Newbury is ?the street to be on,?? said Catherine Groener, US marketing manager for Cotelac, based in France. ?A lot of people know the brand from Europe. If you go to Boston to visit a college, or you want to walk around, you go to Newbury Street. That is the obvious place to be.??

The city has also helped the district rebound. Last summer, Mayor Thomas M. Menino toured Newbury with 70 retailers, brokers, and developers as a prelude to the International Conference of Shopping Centers? New England Idea Exchange meeting in Boston. Menino highlighted some of the street?s vacancies and the critical need to fill them.

Dot Joyce, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said some of the new retailers heard about the openings during the tour.

Last week, the city proposed sprucing up the street later this summer by replacing all of its street lamps with 17-foot decorative acorn lamps, at a cost of about $300,000.

The mayor has also raised the possibility of closing Newbury Street to vehicle traffic during some summer days and inviting artists for street fairs, but that is still being discussed.

?We are constantly looking at Newbury and all of our business districts and how to improve them,?? Joyce said.

Signs announcing store openings dot Newbury Street. Converse, for example, has a giant ?Coming Soon?? sign emblazoned on its black wooden fence in the 300 block. Walk another block, and construction workers are renovating the former home of Nora?s Convenient Store at 303 Newbury for an Ibex Outdoor Clothing store, which plans to move in later this year.

Farther down, scaffolding envelops the side of three former town homes where the Met Bar & Grill is being built at Dartmouth and Newbury streets.

Owner Kathy Sidell Trustman said she has been waiting two years for the 7,600-square-foot location to become available. It had been the home of Joe?s American Bar and Grill, which relocated in March to 181 Newbury.

?The space dictates and really speaks to old Boston and New England,?? said Sidell Trustman, who owns three other Metropolitan restaurants ? at the Natick Collection, Legacy Place, and Chestnut Hill.

Shoppers have noticed Newbury?s comeback.

Eleanor Mason, the owner of an alterations business in Brookline, recently visited the 7,500-square-foot AllSaints Spitafields store, which opened last month, replacing the home decor store Pottery Barn. The store, which has more than 100 antique sewing machines in the window and sells vintage-inspired clothes, was abuzz one recent afternoon.

?It?s bringing more fashion to Boston,?? said Mason. ?It has a European flair. It?s going to be huge competition for other shops. This is good for Newbury Street.??

Still, some darkened storefronts remain, marked by ?For Lease?? and ?Space Available?? signs. The former home of the Gap clothing store remains empty at 201 Newbury. Earlier this month, Too Timid, an adult sex accessories store at 297 Newbury St., shut its doors.

And after 38 years, Marcoz, an antiques store at 173 Newbury, recently posted a ?Moving Sale?? sign after the owner, Marc Glasberg, said his landlord had doubled the rent on the 900-square-foot store. He said he is negotiating a new lease in the Back Bay, but not on Newbury.

Rachel Walsh has mixed feelings about old businesses closing and new ones opening. She and her husband own Rick Walker?s Boots, which is across the street from the future home of the Ibex Outdoor Clothing store.

?I?m glad to see some of the empty spaces being filled up, but at the same time, just the fact that the other ones all closed makes us take pause,?? she said.

Mark Juliano, owner of Highlights Salon on Newbury, agrees. He said his $8,000-a-month rent went up to about $11,000 this past year, but because of the closings he was able to find a cheaper space one block away.

?I am not happy to see these billionaires come in and scoop up these buildings and ask for ridiculous rents,?? said Juliano, whose hair salon is a 10-year fixture on Newbury. ?But also the economy has pushed people out and has created opportunities for people like me.??

Johnny Diaz can be reached at jodiaz@globe.com.
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They've finished construction along Boylston Street across from the Lord & Taylor. They bumped out the facade to match the streetscape adding several square feet of space to the shops that include Best Cellars and Verizon.

BTW, we visited the new Joe's American Bar & Grill, last night. It's moved up a block from Newbury & Dartmouth streets to Newbury & Exeter streets, now in the old Friday's space. They rebuilt it so that the roof can be rolled back on warm days, nice touch. There are tables facing the street and a long bar, too. Unfortunately, TVs as well.

The food is typical fare - burgers and chicken and a couple types of fish. Beers start are $4.50 and mixed cocktails are $9 and up. The crowd was not touristy but definitely not residents - mostly office workers and people going to Fenway. It's on the North/East side of Newbury so you don't get afternoon sun. So, a bit cooler on a cool day, probably preferable on hot days to Stephanie's, across the street.

boylston.jpg
 
Good fucking christ, Boston, please stop with the burger places. I know, it's nice sometimes to be no more than 10 feet from a burger place no matter where you are, but there are other types of food, too. And I don't just mean fancy pizza or local seafood!
 
It's kind of a shame that Joe's moved, I really loved their old location at the corner of Dartmouth and Newbury. The cellar, and the outside, below-grade patio had a lot of character, as did the cool entrance with the narrow staircases. Just an all around great space. Hope the new place going in there keeps up the tradition.
 
I see Diane von Furstenberg is suppose to open a boutique in July at 73 Newbury Street (on the DVF site). What is it replacing?

Any other luxury retailers looking to enter the Boston area? Do the upscale, designer brand boutiques in Boston do alright?
 
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/05/09/market_to_open_in_south_boston/

Market to open in South Boston
Stimulus money aids businessman
By Hannah McBride, Globe Correspondent | May 9, 2010
South Boston will get a new upscale market as part of the city?s $2.6 million in federal stimulus aid to Boston?s small businesses, city and federal officials announced yesterday.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Senator John F. Kerry were on hand to announce a $150,000 loan to Victor Leon, owner of Foodie?s Market in the South End, to open a South Boston store at 240 West Broadway, now a hollowed-out warehouse. The new store, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will create 35 staff positions, as well as construction jobs to prepare the store for its opening, scheduled for later this summer.

Leon, who also owns a Foodie?s Market in Duxbury, said he wants the new store to be a local fixture where residents can walk to and meet with neighbors while shopping.

?We?re right in the neighborhood. We?re part of that urban fabric,?? he said in an interview after the event. ?We?ll be that beacon, hopefully, for people to shop and gather.??

Kerry called the loan part of a greater effort to create jobs for Americans suffering in a lagging economy. ?This is a tribute to one American?s dream to own a business,?? he said.

As Menino stepped onto the podium in the warehouse to address the small crowd, resident Bill Allen called out, ?What about parking???

Menino said the city was planning a neighborhood meeting where that would be discussed.

Lucy Warsh, Department of Neighborhood Development spokeswoman, said after the event that her department, along with the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Office of Neighborhood Services, plans to meet with community members before the store opens.

?The review process is underway,?? Warsh said, though no meetings have been scheduled.

Allen, 52, who lives on C Street, a block away from the new store?s location, said afterward that city officials put up new two-hour parking signs along the street, so he and his neighbors will not be able to park there, even with resident stickers. No one was told about plans for the store until the news conference yesterday, he said.

?They?re saying there?s parking here for 35 cars and they?re going to have 35 employees ? how is that going to work??? he said.

Jeff Cram, 34, who moved to nearby A Street last year, said he was pleased about the new store.

He said he and his wife, who is expecting a baby, sometimes have to go as far as the Whole Foods stores near Beacon Hill or in Cambridge to get groceries.

?This is huge,?? he said. ?We almost didn?t buy here because there wasn?t an accessible grocery store.?
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Oakley said:
I see Diane von Furstenberg is suppose to open a boutique in July at 73 Newbury Street (on the DVF site). What is it replacing?

Any other luxury retailers looking to enter the Boston area? Do the upscale, designer brand boutiques in Boston do alright?
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I would say they do given the amount of wealth in Boston and the Metro area. And look at the sheer number of them, and how long they have been around.
 
^Yeah, and given the fact that Newbury Street rents had risen to $200/SF in some of the smaller boutiques. They must be bringing in some dough to support those rents!
 
Foodies is a great company. Their South End market is an integral part of the neighborhood. As the neighborhood's changed they've changed too although they are still popular with the "old" South End, including people from the projects and Villa Victoria. They hire from the community, too.

Regarding parking, few people drive to the South End market. Most walk.
 
1. Who needs parking?

2. If there are 35 employees, it will be an extremely rare occurrence that all 35 are present at a given time.

3. Why did Foodie's get a loan from the government, and why was the mayor needed to attend such an announcement? Is this a bigger deal than I thought?

4. Why, yes, Jeff! Grocery stores are some of the most important businesses in a neighborhood.
 
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