The New Retail Thread

City Winery will be operating a wine garden at Dewey Square on the Greenway this summer. Details are here.
 
Eh, paper books and places that sell them have far more staying power than other physical media. Doesn't mean this place will be a success but it's also not really analogous with places like Blockbuster.
 
statler said:
Eh, paper books and places that sell them have far more staying power than other physical media. Doesn't mean this place will be a success but it's also not really analogous with places like Blockbuster.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've read that independent bookstores are actually doing pretty well in the Amazon age. Places like Porter Square books have a significant "live" component: they hold events and readings and signings (for kids and adults) and also have a "coffee shop" element (with the associated revenue). They're places you go to buy books, but also to hang out and talk about books and learn about books.

The independent bookstores that only offered books for sale and nothing else were already taken out by chains like Barnes & Nobles and Borders in the 90s. Now in the 21st century, Amazon has pretty much taken out those books-as-commodities chains in turn. But the bookstores that offered enough valuable services to survive the chain onslaught in the 90s actually face less direct competition on their model from Amazon today than they did from Barnes & Nobles a decade or two ago.
 
617 said:
Nice...hope they get a blockbuster next.
Click to expand...

Its Porter Square Books, not B. Dalton.

Porter Square Books is an indispensable institution to the people that patronize it. I just hope they find the same kind of patrons in the Seaport that they are accustomed to in Camberville. I think they'll probably do fine.
 
JumboBuc said:
Yeah, I've read that independent bookstores are actually doing pretty well in the Amazon age. Places like Porter Square books have a significant "live" component: they hold events and readings and signings (for kids and adults) and also have a "coffee shop" element (with the associated revenue). They're places you go to buy books, but also to hang out and talk about books and learn about books.

The independent bookstores that only offered books for sale and nothing else were already taken out by chains like Barnes & Nobles and Borders in the 90s. Now in the 21st century, Amazon has pretty much taken out those books-as-commodities chains in turn. But the bookstores that offered enough valuable services to survive the chain onslaught in the 90s actually face less direct competition on their model from Amazon today than they did from Barnes & Nobles a decade or two ago.
Click to expand...

All of which was mentioned by the owner himself in the article - they see this more as a cultural space than a bookstore.
 
Seaport is an odd place for PS Books, a rather elite capitalist location. Don’t think there’ll be quite as many SJWs fomenting revolution there.
 
Equilibria said:
Waterside Place would like to host a vet clinic instead of an "innovation" tenant on its first floor. Gave up most of the "innovation" space a few years ago for a neighborhood health center.

http://www.bostonplans.org/document...rside-place-phase-1a-notice-of-project-change
Click to expand...

Is there a better example of over-regulation, over-planning, and over-buzzwording getting in the way of a good neighborhood than the "innovation space" requirement?

Pretty much the #1 criticism of the Seaport is that it lacks "traditional" neighborhood establishments, and meanwhile we have city-imposed rules that expressly forbid "traditional" establishments from occupying street-level space. And not for any actual reason, but solely for the purpose of optics and being able to point to something and say "look, I'm 'innovative.'"

It's madness.
 
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.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top