The New Retail Thread

jklo said:
even though the Golden Triangle isn't exactly a food desert.
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I beg to differ. Very few good sit down restaurants in the area you are talking about (even fewer if we exclude ethnic food establishments). Plenty of terrible, chain restaurants though.
 
jklo said:
Soo I went to the new Wegmans at the Natick Mall. Not sure what to make of it as a grocery store but literally like half of the upper floor is taken up by restaurants and prepared food stations. It's kind of strange but I still have to say this is a good use of vacant property at a mall even though the Golden Triangle isn't exactly a food desert.

I don't know what it is about the Natick Mall but driving around there is kind of a disaster even though I don't think the volume really is all that much.
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The building it's in was the last Jordan Marsh ever built, completed in 1994. (2 years later, it would become Macy*s.)
 
Blue Bottle Coffee will be opening in the atrium at 100 Federal this weekend (May 12th, 2018).

Looks like they'll be offering free coffee from 9AM - 3PM on the 12th.

https://boston.eater.com/2018/5/8/17332860/blue-bottle-coffee-federal-street-boston

Red Barn Coffee, which has been operating in the base of 100 Fed for the last 2 years while the building was under construction, will be opening at 100 High Street in the coming weeks.
 
Anyone read the Globe article about La Casa de Pedro failing? Its such to cause some controversy.
 
falcon42 said:
Anyone read the Globe article about La Casa de Pedro failing? Its such to cause some controversy.
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I read it. I am not sure they realize the sad irony of the fact that a successful business Chapter 11 is frightfully expensive (easily well into the six figures). Especially in Massachusetts where creditors are treated very kindly by our Bankruptcy Judges and our US Trustee's are almost always very tough on Chapter 11 Debtors.
 
falcon42 said:
Anyone read the Globe article about La Casa de Pedro failing? Its such to cause some controversy.
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Link for the curious. Paywall.

I just looked it up and read through it (though I'll be honest that I couldn't really make it whole way through without rolling my eyes). Why is this even a story? Rhetorical question.. it is a non-story, but it clearly fits the Globe's motive to continue to bash the Seaport and make everything about Seaport vs. minorities.

From what I understand, the restaurant is failing at the Seaport location because the food is bad. It's quite simple. It never got off the ground because the food was below par.

Do people who have visited the restaurant even care or know who the owners are, much less care which race they may be?? Frankly, do people in general pick and choose restaurants to frequent based on the owner's race?? That sounds absurd. It makes you wonder if the owners of other nearby ethic restaurants (e.g., Temazcal, Rosa Mexicana, Lolita to name a few) must just all be white men. I've never even thought about it but gee, that must be why they haven't closed down yet.

Here's the truth for anyone who hasn't lived in an apartment or condo above a restaurant. Restaurants within residential buildings that play louder music are much more likely to receive complaints from residents for noise than restaurants within other commercial spaces (e.g., offices) or stand-alone locations. This is regardless of race of the owners, workers, and patrons.

It also doesn't matter what type of restaurant it is either. Mastro's, also in a residential building in the Seaport, which is as "white" of a pricey steakhouse there is, owned by Landry's, whose billionaire CEO is as prototypically white as I've ever seen, frequented by who must be the uptightiest of white monied patrons, received several complaints from residents over noise, live music, and disturbances. The Globe's effort to insinuate that tenant complaints to La Casa De Pedro have to do with putting minorities down is just laughable. I'm sure the complaints didn't help the restaurant's case, but I'm thinking the unpaid rent for months was a bigger factor. If I only had a nickel for every time a restaurant failed.

But.. of course, yes, it will cause the misinformed controversy that the Globe so desires.

Also.. I love great Latin food.. yum!

/rant
 
If it wasn't a minority-owned business, it wouldn't be a story.

Maybe a Harvard Business School case: How to lose over $5000/day, screw your landlord, creditors and suppliers and still win public sympathy.
 
Your synopsis of this article is all I need to know. Of course the Globe tried to turn a failing restaurant's bankruptcy into a race issue. At this point it is hard to take the Globe seriously. Glad I cancelled my subscription years ago. If it ever decides to go back to non-idealogical local news reporting I'll be in first in line back. But not holding my breath.

Menton is a tenant in my building and its not doing so hot. And my condo association has had plenty of discussions with the management of Menton, Sportello and Drink over early food deliveries, noisy crowds and lingering guests who smoke in front of our front door. Which I guess is fine b/c...Barbara Lynch is white? Would it have been racist if these were establishments frequented or owned by minorities?

And we also let Barrington know it was stinking up our lobby w/fresh coffee grounds (this didn't bother me, but...). I guess also not news b/c...white people drink coffee?

Sorry for the rant, but the Globe's premise is so lazy and simply convenient to a Seaport narrative they wish to create but doesn't really exist. "Seaport freezes out minorities!" No, Seaport freezes out people that don't have money. (Which is a perfectly legitimate and interesting angle to report on, by the way.)
 
falcon42 said:
Anyone read the Globe article about La Casa de Pedro failing? Its such to cause some controversy.
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I read it...

I consider myself to be fairly "woke" to the issues of social injustice and institutional privilege. I 100% believe that members of traditionally under-represented and disadvantaged groups get a bunch of extra hurdles thrown in front of them on their way to "success," while members of traditionally advantaged groups are much more likely to get systematically boosted along the way. This applies across gender, race, ethnicity, class, national origin, sexual orientation and identity, religion, etc.

That being said, I had a really hard time following the racial/ethnic angle of that article.

The restaurant business is incredibly tough and cutthroat, and real estate in the Seaport is crazy expensive. Businesses (and especially restaurants) fail every single day. Plenty of majority-owned businesses have also failed in the Seaport and in comparable locations. If a business doesn't own the space in which it operates, it is 100% at the mercy of its landlord once lease renewal time comes around.

La Casa de Pedro is/was a particularly ambitious enterprise (10,000 square feet!); when those businesses fail (as they so often do) they fail hard. There's a reason that the retail space that La Casa de Pedro currently occupies stayed empty for so long: with the rents the landlord is asking, it's a really tough and expensive spot to make a business work. It's a huge space with $64k/month rent, but the location is still kind of out-of-the-way. Ownership admits that the events that precipitated the noise complaints only happened in the first place because the restaurant was desperate for business; they seem to an effect of the business's struggles rather than a cause thereof. And what restaurant (especially one that serves alcohol) located beneath apartments or condos (especially expensive ones) doesn't get noise complaints?

Larry J's BBQ, for all of Larry's lease worries, seems to actually be doing pretty well. I consider that a success. What downtown retail business owner doesn't have lease anxiety? A bit of lease anxiety could be interpreted as a sign of a good businessperson; it shows that the business owner is conscious of and monitoring the risks that his/her business is facing. Maybe if the owners of La Casa de Pedro had little more lease anxiety in the first place (again, $64k/month) they wouldn't be in the mess they're in now.
 
FortPointGuy said:
Menton is a tenant in my building and its not doing so hot. And my condo association has had plenty of discussions with the management of Menton, Sportello and Drink over early food deliveries, noisy crowds and lingering guests who smoke in front of our front door.
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Oh no.. I like Menton (for the food!), but only go on rare occasions. Wished they had more varied price points on the menu and more options. Not difficult at all to plunk down $80 just for a simple lunch for two after a drink, entree, tax, and gratuity. Rent is high, but I don't see that place as somewhere you just walk into on a whim. That could just be me though. I hope it remains successful.
 
La Casa just wasnt quality IMO. Went in one time and got soggy nachos and a sub par $20+ quesadilla.

End of the day, when you owe a landlord $600k, you need to pay or get out. The business needs to be accountable for the LEGAL lease they signed. Talk about bad business. Can the landlord just screw over their vendors and scream race!?
 
I likewise am pretty "woke" and leftist, but this is a load of BS. And the Globe does have a weird obsession with the Seaport, Shirley Leung included.
 
Smith & Wollensky at the Park Plaza armory is closing. Not terribly surprising as the entire company has been on a decline for years. This will leave them with five locations - Atlantic Wharf, Swellesley, two in Chicago and Columbus.

It could make an incredible nightclub venue but I suspect that would never fly because it's Boston. It'll probably end up like the Park Ave armory hosting antiques shows and finger painting exhibitions.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/busines...ay-location/iiRbIYEjmPZbVpit5GjbJM/story.html
 
We just had dinner at the New York Smith & Wollensky a few months back, they're still there according to their website. There's also one in London.
 
FortPointGuy said:
Your synopsis of this article is all I need to know. Of course the Globe tried to turn a failing restaurant's bankruptcy into a race issue. At this point it is hard to take the Globe seriously. Glad I cancelled my subscription years ago. If it ever decides to go back to non-idealogical local news reporting I'll be in first in line back. But not holding my breath.

Menton is a tenant in my building and its not doing so hot. And my condo association has had plenty of discussions with the management of Menton, Sportello and Drink over early food deliveries, noisy crowds and lingering guests who smoke in front of our front door. Which I guess is fine b/c...Barbara Lynch is white? Would it have been racist if these were establishments frequented or owned by minorities?

And we also let Barrington know it was stinking up our lobby w/fresh coffee grounds (this didn't bother me, but...). I guess also not news b/c...white people drink coffee?

Sorry for the rant, but the Globe's premise is so lazy and simply convenient to a Seaport narrative they wish to create but doesn't really exist. "Seaport freezes out minorities!" No, Seaport freezes out people that don't have money. (Which is a perfectly legitimate and interesting angle to report on, by the way.)
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Race pimps gonna race pimp.
 
If the Globe's purpose is to stir the pot and create conversation, they've done it, although its a completely misguided article.

Larry J complains about his lease. If he doesn't like it, go to a new spot, its a free market. In my opinion, there is way too much sympathy for the tenants.
They are both adults that entered into a two way agreement willingly.

Imagine if it were revealed that Massport was giving away free rent. The public would be crying about taxpayer dollars that were lost.
 
I used to work at the Arsenal on the Charles and Casa de Pedro was on the campus. Aside from the days when they'd host a free taco bar in the 311 lobby, it was the most mediocre, insanely overpriced food you could get. It failed because it sucked. End of story.
 
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