Mayor Fuller, Store Manager Faye and Peet’s Executive John
The Peet’s that had been in Newton Centre is now officially closed. But that’s not the end of the story.
Today John Coletta, Chief Strategy Officer and head of retail flew in from the Peet’s home office in California to tell the community that yes, the corporate parent hears their needs. Just before stepping up to address the collected crowd, Coletta said to me and City Councilors Brenda Noel and David Kalis that if he could sign a new lease in Newton today, he would.
As we all stood holding our cups of free coffee, Coletta focused much of his talk on the fact that he wishes they had done a bit more planning around this closure so they could close this store and immediately announce a new one. He went on to praise his landlords as being a great partner, but the Peet’s business model simply cannot be profitable at that location at those rents, but 
it could work elsewhere.
Peet’s focuses on lower cost items with lower revenue per sales than some of their competitors. So instead of selling $5 and $7 drinks, they mostly sell $3 drinks and make additional revenue on beans. They are now shifting to bringing in better food, along with a sister chain Pret-a-Manger, and that’s something he’d like to do elsewhere in Newton.
In addition to Councilors Kalis and Noel, Mayor Fuller was also on hand, along with Economic Development
Part of the Peet’s staff on their last day, including Maya (second from right) who was described as the “heart and soul” of the shop.
Director Kathryn Ellis.
The audience had a chance to ask questions and many worried about the staff (Peet’s promises to offer them all jobs in other locations) as well as what will fill the space next. Mayor Fuller, for her part, committed to not only help Peet’s locate somewhere in Newton, preferably Newton Centre, but also to support them with the right mix of stores around whatever new location is identified.
My favorite story of the morning came from the woman who noted that she met her husband at that location. Of course, as I mentioned before, I used to be there many Saturdays with my toddler son watching cars and teaching him to count. I also ran into a former client who met an angel investor at that location, a meeting that created a cascade that effect that not only got his edtech business off the ground but resulted in an eventual sale to Amazon.
We can all say that rents are high in Newton Centre and we won’t be wrong. We can all say that we would love for landlords to take less money for their property, but is that a fair ask? Would you take less money for your house so you can sell it to a young family rather than someone who may tear it down or rip it apart?
If you need a lesson in how Newton’s regulations get in the way of having the best retail, please go back and read Chris Steele’s post on the current regulatory environment. We can fix it, but it’s going to take work.
Chuck, do you know if Peet’s had to pay (either directly or in opportunity costs for the landlord) for any of the parking in back/on the side of it?
I liked Peets but it was an island surrounded by cars and Beacon Street congestion. The sidewalks and frontage are uninviting. This landscape features discouraged the foot traffic Chris Steele rightly pointed to as vital to its success.
@Nathan,
I’m sorry but that is just twaddle. If you couldn’t park behind, you could find somewhere to park.. eventually. When I was in there I would observe many people walking to it, just as I would do.
@Simon Nathan is referring to foot traffic, not driving traffic.
It’s not a store that you would just HAPPEN to walk by, you need to make a concerted effort to get there on foot.
As I was leaving I chatted with the guy who locked his bike next to mine. It happens that Beacon Street is a very active cyclist route, but it has just a scant few spaces and no outdoor seating. Interestingly enough, the Starbucks in Auburndale, which is also on a very active bike route, also has bike parking issues.
But to answer @nathan’s original question, I’m not sure how they would quantify the costs of that parking. I know that the existence of parking created some early issues with seating. That is, they had limited seats because the seats were tied to the parking. Eventually, they got more seats, though perhaps not enough.
I know that people point to seating as an issue, but I’m not sure how big of an issue it actually was. The store did relatively well as far as revenue, it just couldn’t make up for the rent. The mix of coffee and food created low per-ticket sales, which means they would need either a smaller footprint or a larger number of people buying and leaving to justify the higher costs. Adding four or even 10 more seats wouldn’t have made up enough difference.
Starbucks’ solution this business problem is a smaller store with a higher degree of grab-and-go business. They don’t want you to sit, they want you to keep going. They don’t even want you to order in the store.
All that said, Newton Centre has expensive rent, and that means the companies that find that rent to be a fair price will pay it. Whether we want those companies is a different story.
@Chuck,
JP Licks is a stones throw away. It has hardly any seating, and always bustling with people. That said, JP Licks does have Bike parking almost in front of it, not that it is used much!
it’s also on a more pedestrian side of the street. And yes, the bike parking gets used. I often see bikes parked there.
@Chuck “It’s not a store that you would just HAPPEN to walk by, you need to make a concerted effort to get there on foot.”
That is just not true for those of us who live in Newton Center. I walk down that street almost everyday. And there is LOTS of foot traffic heading to and from the T station that both walk by and stop in on the way
Nonantum Center could really use a decent cafe… it’s a densely populated area with plenty of foot traffic.
@Claire
Thank you for adding local knowledge and some common sense to this thread. Others have an agenda, and they are appointed by the mayor!
This same thing happened to Peets on Main (aka Peets Edgemar) in Santa Monica, CA. No Peets representatives were on hand for the closure. It was a sad outcome. 17 years. The team photo here (in your paper) is memorable. I hope that Peets figures out how to get it right and to stay a member of the community and not just pack up and leave.
To think that there is little foot traffic at the intersection where Peet’s was is just not true. Just the commuters who walk by to and from the T make up a large group. Then there are people who live in Newton Centre, the lively restaurant scene, JP LIcks (and yes, we often hit both JP Lick’s and Peet’s in one trip) as well as the limited non-food retail. If Newton Centre cannot support businesses that do best when there is foot traffic in the area then there is nowhere in Newton that can. And during the day there is plenty of parking if you are willing to walk a block or two-not necessarily true at night when the restaurant scene is hopping. Cars are parked throughout the residential streets.