Every few weeks in the past year, you notice another one. Another Central Square retailer, here one week, gone the next, replaced by brown packing paper blocking the windows and a phone number to inquire about leasing. The AT&T store on the corner of Mass Ave and Magazine St. A printer supply store. The Gap. The Attic. A florist. Pearl Art. This week, some good news comes to us via Gus Rancatore of Toscanini's via his blog:
- Flour Bakery, a South End favorite, is moving in next to Central Bottle (in itself a new success story).
- Life Alive, an organic cafe in Lowell, is moving into the Hollywood Express space across from the Post Office.
- "Revere's famous Cambodian restaurant" which Gus identifies as Floating Island (but I think he means Floating Rock) is moving into part of the old Gap space.
It's interesting (and wholly unsurprising) that many of the closed stores were national tenants with corporate decisionmakers far from Cambridge, and many of those filling the void are ventures with local or regional bases. Come out and support the new business--as well as some of our favorite, more established ones!
Image of Central Bottle, 196 Mass Ave, courtesy their website.
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2 comments:
Many of those stores leaving Central were national chains, yes. But Hollywood Express was LOCAL as well as the best video store ever (the Central location was better than the last remaining location at Porter), and Rodney's is irreplacable... easily the best bookstore in Cambridge (though I loved the Coolidge Corner location when I lived there). I wish I still lived near Central (or anywhere in Cambridge) so I could go one last time.
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