The New Retail Thread

[Suffolk 83]

Is it really worth your breath? Sam Adams is fine. Fanuiel Hall is never going to be for locals, that's fine. I'll go when I feel like being sadistic or have people in from out of town.

 

[Coyote137]

It's in the center of the city at a major tourist attraction. They're not going to have the Falafel King, El Pelon Taqueria, or your retired uncle's brewpub. If you need to see more about why, look up "capitalism" in your nearest search engine.

 

[cadetcarl]

Ah yes, the discussion forum where the discussion part is foregone and we jump to everyone's favorite part, the conclusion.

 

[mass88]

Boston is now probably the best beer city on the East Coast (it's a toss up with Asheville and Portland). And that's because, over the past 5-10 years, breweries have exploded all over the outer neighborhoods, pioneering the hottest style of beer in America right now (New England IPAs). These are places like Aeronaut, Trillium, Lamplighter, and Winter Hill Brewing Company - places that make excellent beer that's unique to New England, and places that are seriously investing in the neighborhoods around them.

Sam Adams ISN'T EVEN TECHNICALLY A BOSTON BREWERY. The facility in JP primiarly exists for R&D, and 99% of all Sam Adams brewed in the world is brewed in Ohio or Pennsylvania. Its beer is sub-par and it's as much a part of the authentic Boston community as the Cheers bar is.

This tap room will be a huge hit with tourists, but anyone who actually lives in Boston and likes beer will stay away, with good reason. Faneuil Hall sits right smack in the middle of a beer-drinking city, and will now prominently feature that city's worst brewery.

The local restaurants, bars and their association are actively trying to hamper these brewer's efforts to have beer gardens in the warmer months and want to eliminate one of the nicer things to happen to this city recently.

 

[JohnAKeith]

My guess is the complaints from existing restaurants is that almost all of them are required to serve food with alcohol on their premises, including in their outside seating areas, whereas you can go into a beer garden and just drink ... beer. So, the random passerby who just wants a drink says, Oh, I'll go to a beer garden.

Plus, the beer gardens are new and in many instances are in locations that didn't exist before (Sam Adams; Rose Kennedy Greenway; Seaport), and who would want new competition that didn't exist (couldn't exist) before the current restaurants were opened? It completely messes up your business plan.

Not saying I don't like them, but to give some background on the situation.

If my paycheck was dependent on getting a hundred people an hour into my business and suddenly I was getting 70 people, I'd freak out, too.

Yes, it's capitalism.

The local restaurants, bars and their association are actively trying to hamper these brewer's efforts to have beer gardens in the warmer months and want to eliminate one of the nicer things to happen to this city recently.

 

[tysmith95]

Boston is now probably the best beer city on the East Coast (it's a toss up with Asheville and Portland). And that's because, over the past 5-10 years, breweries have exploded all over the outer neighborhoods, pioneering the hottest style of beer in America right now (New England IPAs). These are places like Aeronaut, Trillium, Lamplighter, and Winter Hill Brewing Company - places that make excellent beer that's unique to New England, and places that are seriously investing in the neighborhoods around them.

Sam Adams ISN'T EVEN TECHNICALLY A BOSTON BREWERY. The facility in JP primiarly exists for R&D, and 99% of all Sam Adams brewed in the world is brewed in Ohio or Pennsylvania. Its beer is sub-par and it's as much a part of the authentic Boston community as the Cheers bar is.

This tap room will be a huge hit with tourists, but anyone who actually lives in Boston and likes beer will stay away, with good reason. Faneuil Hall sits right smack in the middle of a beer-drinking city, and will now prominently feature that city's worst brewery.

That crown goes to Portland ME. More breweries than Boston despite being much smaller.

 

[chrisbrat]

That crown goes to Portland ME. More breweries than Boston despite being much smaller.

if you keep strictly within city limits, it's essentially a dead heat, but if you include somerville et cetera, then not even close. boston by about 10.

http://mainer.co/portland-maine-brewery-map/

https://www.beeradvocate.com/place/city/3/

 

[stick n move]

Yea idk I look at it from a different angle. This spot is going to be better with this than it was before as... nothing. Lots of people enjoy Sam Adams, just because its mainstream doesnt make it bad. Theres room for everybody.

 

[whighlander]

Boston is now probably the best beer city on the East Coast (it's a toss up with Asheville and Portland). And that's because, over the past 5-10 years, breweries have exploded all over the outer neighborhoods, pioneering the hottest style of beer in America right now (New England IPAs). These are places like Aeronaut, Trillium, Lamplighter, and Winter Hill Brewing Company - places that make excellent beer that's unique to New England, and places that are seriously investing in the neighborhoods around them.

Sam Adams ISN'T EVEN TECHNICALLY A BOSTON BREWERY. The facility in JP primiarly exists for R&D, and 99% of all Sam Adams brewed in the world is brewed in Ohio or Pennsylvania. Its beer is sub-par and it's as much a part of the authentic Boston community as the Cheers bar is.

This tap room will be a huge hit with tourists, but anyone who actually lives in Boston and likes beer will stay away, with good reason. Faneuil Hall sits right smack in the middle of a beer-drinking city, and will now prominently feature that city's worst brewery.

I think it has something to do with a statue

By the way Beantown Pub @ 100 Tremont St. runs ads saying

The only pub in the world where you can drink a cold Sam Adams' while viewing a cold Sam Adams

And while Sam Adams in general may not be the best brewery -- they do from time to time produce some products which are more than just acceptable -- and if the choice someplace is Sam or something else that you typically see advertised on TV -- I'll chose the Sam

 

[393b40]

The beer snobbery in this thread is off the charts.

 

[cjbski]

Free People is opening on Boylston Street (FINALLY SOMETHING HERE!!) in the old Staples Copy & Print space at the corner of Gloucester St.

More recently it's been an empty space or a pop-up shop location for various things. Free People (same group as Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, etc.) tends to put money into their spaces, so let's hope they clean up the storefront on Boylston.

Also a pleasure to see a store here vs. another bank.

 

[stevebikes]

Yes that sign is fake. However they have had it fenced off for at least 3 weeks

For my penance, actual photos:

 

[12345]

Wachusett Brewing Co., the state’s third-largest brewery by production, plans to open a third brewery and tap room in Cambridge’s Harvard Square this fall.

The facility will open at 33 Dunster St., formerly the home of John Harvard’s Brewery & Ale House, and feature a 15-barrel brewhouse, 16 rotating beers on tap, live entertainment and a full kitchen serving up “creative flatbreads,” the brewery announced in a press release Tuesday.

https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/...t-brewing-co-expanding-to-harvard-square.html

 

[393b40]

Interesting I had no idea Wachusett was that big. In 2018 they apparently did 65,000 barrels.

I always thought they were kind of niche to the Central MA market.

 

[HarvardP]

The beer snobbery in this thread is off the charts.

Yuuuuup.

 

[DBM]

Interesting I had no idea Wachusett was that big. In 2018 they apparently did 65,000 barrels.

I always thought they were kind of niche to the Central MA market.

Well, the name is no misnomer--the brewery can't be more than a 10-minute drive from the Mt. Wachusett trailhead, just on the north side of Rte. 2. And of course the actual hike of the mountain is so short, and non-tiring, and the drive out from Metro Boston (or Worcester, or Providence) is so short, that what else are you gonna do to kill the day you hike the mountain, other than hit the brewery? Plus being on Rte. 2 it gets a lot of other non-hiker tourists I have to think.

So very (relatively) high brewery visitation levels must help their overall marketing/exposure. Plus, they're quite ancient by microbrewery standards--started in 1994. That's a lot of time to figure out the business and grow market share.

 

[DominusNovus]

This is a bit tangental to the topic, but has anyone else noticed how much more empty South Shore Plaza is nowadays than just a couple years ago?

 

[jklo]

This is a bit tangental to the topic, but has anyone else noticed how much more empty South Shore Plaza is nowadays than just a couple years ago?

Wouldn't hurt to build some housing there, spice things up a bit.

 

[DominusNovus]

Wouldn't hurt to build some housing there, spice things up a bit.

Possibly. I was also thinking, more for the malls actually failing: I wonder if they would be good spots for breweries. Stick a brewery with a nice bar area in one of them, you could get some decent foot traffic.

 

[jklo]

Possibly. I was also thinking, more for the malls actually failing: I wonder if they would be good spots for breweries. Stick a brewery with a nice bar area in one of them, you could get some decent foot traffic.

Dunno, given it's location (kind of have to drive there) I don't know if a brewery is such a good idea.