I too am sorry to see Peet’s go. However, I am troubled by some of the comments in the blog here and how familiar they sound. We have been having this same conversation now for well over 10-15 years: How to keep a retail mix that works for residents, instead of having villages full of banks and nail salons.
Part of the answer is to have more foot traffic in the village centers so that there’s a retail base that can support a wider range of businesses. Bringing more housing to the village centers is intended to help address that problem (in addition to meeting local housing needs).
But we also need to remember that the stores we have are a factor of three things: the economics of those businesses, the landlords’ expectations for rent, and our regulatory environment.
It’s also worth noting that there’s been a lot of discussion about the regulatory environment for years, but with very little change. There was a vacancy about ten years ago in Newton Centre and the property manager – a local person – wanted to bring Panera to the space. This represented more food service in the Centre and a space that could also work as a gathering location (a role which the space has fulfilled). However – as opposed to banks – restaurants and food service spaces almost always require special permit approval from City Council, usually for parking requirements. And in the case of Panera, there was organized opposition to the restaurant, forcing the property manager to spend tens of thousands of dollars just to get through the politicized permitting process.
Banks don’t face this opposition. Salons rarely face this opposition. We get what our regulatory environment says that we want and will accept.
When I was chair of the Economic Development Commission, we attempted to drive the change in regulation by proposing a moratorium (Docket item #162-12) on the establishment of banking facilities in village centers until parking regulations could be addressed. In the June 25, 2012 meeting, the Zoning and Planning Committee of the City Council (Board of Aldermen at that time) recognized the need for better regulations and promised to address the situation in the imminent zoning reform.
The City Council, with the city’s Planning Department, can address this by better understanding what our retail market can support and then developing the regulatory environment that welcomes these stores. This will then also provide guidance to both the City Economic Development Director (Kathryn Ellis) and commercial brokers, not to mention landlords. Retail purchasing statistics can help define the retail market as it exists but – again – that may be artificially impacted by our current permitting environment. There are other ways of gauging the desire for other uses, ranging from the lo-tech concept of using post-it notes on empty storefront windows in an “I Wish This Was…” exercise up through higher tech tools like Potloc.com.
Changing the regulatory process has to be a part of this. The field needs to be leveled between passive uses (banks) and other uses. And rather than making it harder for banks, we need to make it easier for the other, active uses we say we crave. Banks play a vital role in the market, but so do the wide variety of other uses, and highly active uses (restaurants) actively bring people into the centers. Each should face the same transparent, relatively predictable regulatory and permitting process. Failing to do so will predictably result in a collection of businesses who can not only afford the rent, but can either avoid or afford the professional fees to get through the heavy regulatory burden.
.. or the explanation is changes in consumer behavior
-Buying online
-Younger generation spending less time driving on more time online
-retail puchases have been replaced with buying phone apps instead
– fresh direct and amazon fresh reducing grocery trips
Perhaps the question should be:
Should retail be replaced with office spaces as the trend is to walk to work .. foot retail(non food, drinks) is dying.. this trend is not unique to Newton.. even blocks in Manhattan have this same problem
@bugek – That’s not an “or” that’s an “and”. Yes on-line retail is definitely eating in to retails store’s businesses but the Newton regulatory environment also adds to those woes. Chhris’s example was a restaurant that isn’t up against heavy on-line competition.
I think one of the most general regulatory problems are that special permits are not very “special”. A much too big chunk of commercial change-in-use, or relatively minor changes to property require “special permits”. Every special permit adds costs, delays and uncertainties. One of the problems though is that in general the city loves special permits. Any project that requires a special permit gives the city pressure points to extract concessions from the property or business owner. Special permits also give neighbors an outsized veto power over anything they don’t like.
In my neighborhood, a popular restaurant went through a lengthy and expensive special permit process to add outdoor seating and was eventually denied, primarily due to a neighbor who wasn’t happy. Everyone in the neighborhood I spoke to was thrilled at the prospect of the outdoor cafe seating. The business will survive with out it but they flushed $10’s of thousands of dollars down the toilet and wasted many months of time.
The more the city can normalize and standardize on acceptable commercial uses and minimize requirements for special permits, the better off our commercial businesses will be.
I’ll contribute the bumper sticker:
“Make special permits special”
Buying online is huge! I try to buy local (books) but unless it is at Waban Hardware or another store that I visit I buy online. We used to buy a lot at Green Planet Toys but my kids don’t use toys any longer but if the residents buy online there will be fewer brick and mortar stores.
Waban Hardware has so many things.
Newtonville books has a great selection and can order things quickly.
Learning Express has cool toys
China Fair is a favorite place to visit and purchase a cooking tool or two.
The Mobile Book Fair next to CVS in the shopping center on Needham Street would be a great place for NewtonMom or anyone else to shop for books.
As a parent of three kids in Newton–and resident of Newton Centre–I was dismayed to see the Peet’s landlord hang a sign that says “We own this building…A marijuana store in Newton Centre would bring shoppers, foot traffic, and buyers of coffee, food, and other products…it is legal and used by regular every-day people.” I’m not a frequent user of Village 14 so I am not sure how to post a photo of the sign so others can see it, but I felt compelled to share this information. I have been reading everything I can find about the commercialization of marijuana and have come to believe that when one weighs the pros and cons of having retail establishments, the negative impact on our community will outweigh any potential gains. I plan to attend the City Council hearing on July 9th at 7pm regarding whether or not they will place a question on the November ballot that enables Newton to “opt out” of having recreational retail pot stores here. I hope others will come and try to learn what each of our city council members’ views are and their reasoning. It seems to me that our elected officials’ personal views should be set aside and residents should be given the opportunity to vote on local stores in November, since the right for towns to “opt out” of stores in this manner was built into the legalization question–and over 40 MA towns are doing this (a wide demographic range including Dedham, Lexington, Lawrence, Needham, Revere, Weston & Wellesley).
“We own this building…A marijuana store in Newton Centre would bring shoppers, foot traffic, and buyers of coffee, food, and other products…it is legal and used by regular every-day people.”
That statement seems pretty accurate to me.
They also own the Peet’s building. A coffee shop in that space would bring foot traffic and buyers of coffee, food, and other products. Yet they are turning it into a bank!
You could make the argument that ANY retail outlet would bring foot traffic. But I don’t think it is much of a stretch to presume we all want a village center filled with interesting shops and restaurants, to make it a destination. Nail salons, pot shops, banks, and real estate agencies are used by every day people, but not the type of establishments at which patrons will linger, and serve as community gathering spots.
If the owner wants to bring foot traffic to buy coffee, why not figure out a way to keep the coffee shop in his building?
Members of our 24-person City Council, we know you are reading Village14. Please respond to Chris’ cogent and thoughtful points. We elected you to improve our community and not to sit on the sidelines. Now is your opportunity to share, compare and contrast your insights with the Newton community.
Online shopping can’t be the only reason. Other centers have a lovely mix of unique shops, retail and one of a kind stores. Dedham Center has a great mix where you can eat and shop, with a huge, free parking lot! Same with Concord Center and Lexington Center. Why can’t we have this? Can we learn from what other centers are doing?
As does Wellesely. One things is what comes to mind is that Newton has multiple centers, not just one
Newton Highlands and Centre used to have a lovely mix that included places that were useful and affordable. In the past 20 years it has changed – all the clothing stores are expensive boutiques outside my price range, and there are tons of nail and hair salons (also outside my price range).
@NewtonNewbie and others – according to the story in the Tab, they are not planning to turn it into a bank. They do not yet have a tenant lined up.
I never went to Peet’s much because they never had enough seating. Even though it was in an area with a lot of foot traffic and served by public transit, I believe the number of seats was still tied to parking by the city. Those sorts of restrictions seem like they’re only going to get us more banks.
@Meredith “all the clothing stores are expensive boutiques outside my price range, and there are tons of nail and hair salons (also outside my price range).
Add to that list expensive jewelry stores…4 on Union Street and a fifth on Beacon
I look forward to the city’s response to the new retail realities. It seems that, as of now, the kinds of businesses that are in (or can sustain) in our village centers today are 1) those that can survive the Amazon effect, or offer something that you can’t get online; 2) those able to afford the higher rents that inevitably come as our location close to Boston, which (face it) has basically become San Francisco with snow; 3) those that can withstand the volatile permitting process and occasional NIMBY sentiment; and 4) don’t have issues with high demand for parking. If we want more than what we have, these obstacles will need to be traversed.
I have an office in Newton Centre. The Peets was located poorly on the corner, where the foot traffic is less. There’s nothing “after” the corner to walk to. So they didn’t have a great location. It also sounds to me like they could have charged more. I did go there when I had to meet with a client, because the seating was more spread out and conversation was easier.
The special permits are a problem. When my daughter worked at that Peets one summer, she couldn’t toast a bagel because they didn’t have the permit needed. That seems over the top. Let them have a toaster, for Peets sake.
Ted – High demand for parking. I just emailed my 3 councilors to complain about all the missing meters ( completely missing, spaces not numbered). The city can’t even maintain the lots they have. Pelham Street parking lot has become a dump.
My three favorite coffee places in Newton are (or were) Peets, Howell’s coffee in Newtonville and McDonald’s on Needham Street where for a buck or less you can get a quite nice “Senior” coffee. My problem with Peets had everything to do with today’s Newton Center and not with the establishment itself, the people who worked there or the coffee itself which is 5 stars in quality. I just avoid Newton Center altogether on weekdays between 7:30 in the morning and 7:00 at night because of the traffic congestion, lack of parking and the number of close fender benders I’ve had trying to navigate a very complicated merging arrangements that exist there.
I was just thinking: the Peet’s next to the Boston Common I go to sometimes actually *is* connected to a bank branch (Capital One). Plus, being next to a T stop in a busy area, there are plenty of customers, seats, and people in them. Not sure if it would work in Newton, but something to think about.