The New Retail Thread

blade_bltz said:
I'm pretty sure yuppies enjoy the 'cue (see Redbones). Incidentally, the Roadhouse BBQ down the street stirred emotions in Brookline for replacing a Kosher market (and Vinny Ts) with an imposing black and red facade. It's also about 15 feet away from an Orthodox synagogue. Of course there's nothing to this story (I hope), but it's an interesting case since it's a yuppie-oriented joint pissing off the locals - in Brookline.

Heh, anyway, I've been there and think it's a fine place (to drink beer). Would much rather have kept the Kosher market, and to hell with Vinny Ts.
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The Roadhouse complex (which also houses a wonderful but expensive premium beer retailer Provisions and also a couple empty storefronts) has become a great landmark along Beacon Street. There's something so absolutely misplaced about it and the detailing is up to a certain "good-enough" level that newcomers always seem to interpret it as some sort of eccentric historical construction.

Shame about the Kosher market but The Butcherie still stands on Harvard Street (a fun place for some local flavor).
 
The Roadhouse: great beer-list, suspect food and lousy service.

Provisions: one of my favorite places. They stock this -- astonishingly good.
 
Apparently neighbors complained about the smoke from the Roadhouse and the owner decided to remove the smoker and revamp the menu...not a true smokehouse any more. Since then the food has gone down hill. They should have smoked the neighbors out. I swear I am not blowing smoke up your ...
 
Shepard said:
Shame about the Kosher market but The Butcherie still stands on Harvard Street (a fun place for some local flavor).
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Beacon Kosher was okay, and The Butcherie is still subpar in comparison to places in NYC, and massively expensive. It's time for something new.
 
(This is the second prominently located Crate & Barrel to close within a year, after the one on Brattle Street in Cambridge.)

After 30 years, Crate & Barrel to move
Closing up shop at Faneuil Hall

By Jay Fitzgerald | Boston Herald, Friday, January 8, 2010

Crate & Barrel is packing up its crates and barrels at Faneuil Hall Marketplace.

The upscale retailer, which first opened at Faneuil Hall more than 30 years ago, says it has simply outgrown the historic tourist and shopping destination in downtown Boston.

The Chicago-based Crate & Barrel is now selling both housewares and furniture, as it moves toward a more ?home center collection? business model, said spokeswoman Vicki Lang.

The Faneuil store sells only housewares - from high-end cutting boards to expensive foreign-made blenders - in 13,000 square feet of space. The company?s home stores each require about 25,000 to 30,000 square feet of space, said Lang.

The retailer?s lease in Faneuil Hall?s South Building was due to expire at the end of this month, so Crate & Barrel opted not to renew. The store closes Jan. 24.

In an e-mail blast yesterday to customers, Crate & Barrel referred Boston shoppers to its 777 Boylston St. store. The chain also has a furniture store in Cambridge and five others in Massachusetts.

The recent economic downturn has devastated many retailers and shopping-mall operators, forcing closures and driving up store vacancy rates, across the state and at Faneuil Hall.

Lang acknowledged the past year was tough for Crate & Barrel. ?For everyone, it hasn?t been the best business days.?

Still, she said the Faneuil Hall store, which was Crate & Barrel?s first store outside of Chicago, was ?always strong, but there was a tourist component, and it was up and down,? Lang said.

It?s unclear if a new tenant has been lined up for Crate & Barrel?s space. A spokesman for General Growth Properties, the bankrupt shopping-mall owner that holds the long-term lease for Faneuil Hall Marketplace, could not be reached for comment.
 
Another casualty of Faneuil Hall's decades long transformation into the Main Street, USA of Disneyland Boston.

How long before it's as dated and dilapidated as it was in the early 70s?
 
Waldorf said:
Apparently neighbors complained about the smoke from the Roadhouse and the owner decided to remove the smoker...
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The space the smoker occupied, which took up a whole storefront space, now has a 'FOR RENT' sign in the window, I believe. New retail tenant someday?
 
...Which is probably more economically sound anyway. A whole storefront for a smoker never made much sense to me. They have a great beer selection - if they get on their feet with food, they'll be in business, and with a lower cost structure because they shed the extra storefront space.

By the way, it's owned by the same group as the Publik House, which is always jam-packed. They try to send you to Roadhouse if the wait for a table is too long at Publik - a good deal if you're looking for good beer. (Publik House specializes in Belgians and Europeans generally; Roadhouse has an amazing domestic selection similar to the Cambridge Common's.)
 
Bad (?) news - Adidas store in Harvard Square closing

Good news - the giant Dickensian used book stand down the sidewalk has reopened, complete with a big banner that says "Almost Banned"
 
I thought the Adidas store was always intended to be temporary. I could be wrong here.
 
Good news for the west side of Newbury Street - Brooklyn Industries will be opening up a storefront. Just saw the signs today. I own a bunch of clothes from this Billyburg-originating store. Although it mainly caters to hipsters, I'm not a hipster and have still found quality clothes there - business casual type things with a bit of a younger edge. They also have a great selection of graphic Ts, but I'm not really too into those. Definitely worth checking out when it opens.
 
Ron Newman said:
I thought the Adidas store was always intended to be temporary. I could be wrong here.
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I dunno, because i've seen other similar stores in places like Miami, New York and Amsterdam, and they've been around for much longer.
 
It's certainly been there longer than some stores that were theoretically meant to be permanent.
 
BoLocCo on Mass Ave near Berklee is relocating around the corner on Boylston Street near Berklee. Makes that block look better, by far.

boloco.jpg
 
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