The New Retail Thread

[kmp1284]

As usual with the Globe, old news.

 

[bbfen]

Love this photo on the wall of the Dunkin Donuts at 715 Boylston Street. Yeah, it's a rotten camera phone photo but you can see the owners in the old photos - the early 1970's, maybe? And it looks as though they baked on site, at some point.

Old Greek (I think?) guy that has had that franchise for as long as I can remember and he still comes in regularly to keep an eye on things. Very nice man, and one of the better Dunks in the Back Bay. They remember their regulars.

 

[underground]

That's awesome news. IP's street front on the Greenway is horrible right now. Redoing the lobby and adding a patio will be great.

 

[SeamusMcFly]

That is good news, and it's about time in that location.
I see that artcile mentions "Trade" (does anything say pretentious any more than monosyllabic names like that, that tell you nothing about what's inside?), and it looked pretty full at about 6 o'clock. Looked like a heavy yuppy crowd, which is what I'd expect. So, it didn't look like a place for me, but it seems to be doing good business.

 

[JohnAKeith]

That store that sells crap in Downtown Crossing has closed.

No, not that place, the other place.

No, the other, other place.

 

[Tombstoner]

That store that sells crap in Downtown Crossing has closed.

No, not that place, the other place.

No, the other, other place.

 

[commuter guy]

Brookline Booksmith buys Globe Corner Bookstore's website
By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent
After announcing a collaboration last fall, Brookline Booksmith has purchased the rights to the website of former Harvard Square business The Globe Corner Bookstore.
In a joint press release today on The Globe Corner Bookstore’s website, www.globecorner.com, the two book sellers announced the deal, which also includes the Booksmith’s acquisition of the Globe Corner Bookstore’s trademarks and trade names.
The Globe Corner Bookstore closed its Harvard Square store in 2011 after 29 years in business, but Patrick Carrier, the president of the store, has kept the map and specialty store open online.
Carrier stated in the press release on his store’s website that “it is a great pleasure” to pass on the legacy of the Globe Corner Bookstore to the independently-owned Brookline Booksmith, which is celebrating its 50th year in business.
“We could not have found a better home for globecorner.com and I am pleased that greater Boston area travelers will continue to have an opportunity to browse a deep and broad selection of travel books and maps,” Carrier said.
Last fall the Brookline Booksmith and The Globe Corner Bookstore collaborated to build a new wall-map section in the Brookline Booksmith, which is located in Coolidge Corner.
The Booksmith’s new travel section has added more than 2,000 different travel map titles covering every major city and region in the world, according to the store.
Dana Brigham, the manager and co-owner of the Brookline Booksmith, could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon. In the joint press release with the Globe Corner Bookstore, Brigham said it has been the Booksmith’s privilege to add the Globe Corner Bookstore’s expertise to its shelves.
“We’re excited to be folding more of the Globe Corner into what we do and sharing that with our community and beyond,” Brigham said

source: http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news...h_buys_globe.html?p1=Well_Local_YourTownlinks

 

[czsz]

It closed!?!?! Ugh!!!!!! Felt like they'd just moved into their new storefront (though it probably didn't help retain regulars and the downsizing made it much less useful).

 

[Ron Newman]

Closed due to the owner's medical issues, about a year ago.

 

[AdamBC]

More banks!

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/n....html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2012-04-26

TD Bank would open 10 more full-size branches in Boston this year if they could find the space, TD Bank Group CEO Ed Clark told a group of top-level executives Thursday at a lunch sponsored by the Boston College Chief Executives Club of Boston.

TD, the state's fourth-largest bank by assets, has 159 branches across the state and is looking to add up to 60 more in Massachusetts in the next few years, Clark said. The bank is looking to expand its operations into the city, where it doesn't yet have the presence it does in the suburbs.

"You give us 10 new sites, we'll put 10 new stores next to it" in Boston, Clark said in an interview following the event. Securing appropriate sites in Boston is TD's only constraint, he said. "We would go faster if we could go faster. When we're No. 3 in Boston, we'll probably start to say we'll start to slow down, but we're not there yet," he said.

 

[kz1000ps]

Walmart in Watertown?

Watertown Walmart opponents to erect anti-big box billboard, organize rally

.....Walmart signed a 20-year lease last August for the 7.8 acre property that used to house GE Ionics located at Irving and Arsenal Streets (ed: this is just east of Watertown Square), with the option to renew in increments of five years up to another 30 years, according to lease terms.

Mandel and other local residents are upset by the plan, citing increased traffic, noise and sound pollution, property devaluation and threats to small business owners as main issues.

Watertown Planning Board director Steven Magoon said Walmart has not submitted any documentation to the town yet, nor have they discussed any time frame to submit a proposal.

"There’s nothing on the schedule yet, but they’re still doing due diligence," said a Walmart representative.....

Link

 

[whighlander]

And so it Begins:

New restaurant opening on Greenway in June

By Ira Kantor
Monday, April 30, 2012 - Added 2 hours ago

The Glynn Hospitality Group will open a new restaurant on the Greenway this June.

Dubbed the Grain Exchange, the 250-seat restaurant will make its home at the end of Milk Street in a nearly 200-year-old Charles Bulfinch-designed building and offer two floors, two bars, an exposed kitchen and panoramic al fresco style windows.

Designer Kelly Laurence said the restaurant would serve as “a place where rustic and modern elements meld seamlessly to create a casually stylish environment.”


The menu will feature no more than 25 to 30 items, with a spotlight on charcuterie, regional shellfish, flatbreads and New England classics with a twist.

The Glynn Hospitality Group also operates The Black Rose, The Purple Shamrock, Dillons and Clerys.

If you Google Map and street view at the end of Milk St. at the Greenway the location today is the blank brick end wall of a Bulfinch brick wharf building which was first truncated in the 1920's and then again for the Central Artery.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Milk+...HjzOWGA_s_3IRWDlZGRgJA&cbp=12,270.95,,0,-4.47

You can't put the building back -- but you can open the blank end and make it a gateway!

This could be very good and the right kind of enlivening of this part of the Greenway. It would be especially nice if they can cut a deal with the Greenway folks to allow tables and chairs to "occupy the Greenway" at the Milk St. corner during the al fresco dining season -- possibly with a tent? to extend the season a bit?

 

[underground]

Sure it's not going into the Grain Exchange Building, hence the name? That's a Bulfinch I believe. In any case, glad more stuff's opening up on the GW.

 

[SeamusMcFly]

" with a spotlight on charcuterie" ?????
If I gotta google it..... I'm not interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcuterie

so since I did google it, and then wiki'd it..... it sounds like something I would be interested in, but since they put the fancy name to it, I can't afford it. So again, not interested.

Hooray for restaurants and bars actually engaging and increasing (hopefully) traffic of the foot variety on the greenway.

 

[BeeLine]

Took this shot yesterday from the greenway. It's on the corner of Milk Str. and Surface Rd.

[/url]
Corner Of Milk Street 4/29 by snagshead67, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[whighlander]

Sure it's not going into the Grain Exchange Building, hence the name? That's a Bulfinch I believe. In any case, glad more stuff's opening up on the GW.

Uground -- Grain Exchange restaurant and Grain Exchange Building are unrelated

The Grain Exchange Building -- formally "
Flour and Grain Exchange Building" 1892, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, is almost 100 years after Bulfinch wharf buildings -- much closer to Richardson than Bulfinch in style.

Ironically, Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott, the successor name of the firm that did the design confuses matters maximally

 

[whighlander]

" with a spotlight on charcuterie" ?????
If I gotta google it..... I'm not interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcuterie

so since I did google it, and then wiki'd it..... it sounds like something I would be interested in, but since they put the fancy name to it, I can't afford it. So again, not interested.

Hooray for restaurants and bars actually engaging and increasing (hopefully) traffic of the foot variety on the greenway.

Seamus -- the're into Charcuterie -- just outside Fenway on game day -- just the name is fancy -- think Italian Sausage and charcoal grills

 

[Hutchison]

" with a spotlight on charcuterie" ?????
If I gotta google it..... I'm not interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcuterie

so since I did google it, and then wiki'd it..... it sounds like something I would be interested in, but since they put the fancy name to it, I can't afford it. So again, not interested.

Hooray for restaurants and bars actually engaging and increasing (hopefully) traffic of the foot variety on the greenway.

It's not all that expensive, head to back bay and try out the salty pig for relatively affordable a la carte choices. A couple of orders of meat and cheese go a long way with the bread and mustard...mmm...

 

[Lurker]

177 Milk Street is the former Grain Exchange building which was built by the Boston Chamber of Commerce for use as their headquarters as well as the stock exchange for grain products.

Very interesting building in section. Originally had a triple height space for the main meeting space and trading floor. Once had a giant internal light shaft from the skylight from the roof cone. The roof is framed like a circus tent with riveted steel which suspends the upper floors above the former trading floor like a birdcage. Unfortunately the triple height space was partitioned into separate floors by Jung Brannen, the light shaft infilled, and most of the fine details expected of S.R.C. have been destroyed by years of renovations for cheap office space. If the Beal Co. hadn't saved at least the exterior of building in the early 80s it probably would have been obliterated for a bland PoMo tower.

See this book for interior photos and more information on the building as built:
http://archive.org/details/ceremoniesconnec00bostuoft

 

[whighlander]

177 Milk Street is the former Grain Exchange building which was built by the Boston Chamber of Commerce for use as their headquarters as well as the stock exchange for grain products.

Very interesting building in section. Originally had a triple height space for the main meeting space and trading floor. Once had a giant internal light shaft from the skylight from the roof cone. The roof is framed like a circus tent with riveted steel which suspends the upper floors above the former trading floor like a birdcage. Unfortunately the triple height space was partitioned into separate floors by Jung Brannen, the light shaft infilled, and most of the fine details expected of S.R.C. have been destroyed by years of renovations for cheap office space. If the Beal Co. hadn't saved at least the exterior of building in the early 80s it probably would have been obliterated for a bland PoMo tower.

See this book for interior photos and more information on the building as built:
http://archive.org/details/ceremoniesconnec00bostuoft

Lurk -- Yes -- but that's not the building where the "Grain Exchange" restaurant is being located

By the way -- the next section of the Greenway north of the restaurant location is the Armenian Park -- perhaps the restaurant will want to feature some Armenian fare