Press release from the Barn Family Shoe Store….
The Barn Family Shoe Store, New England’s favorite destination for stylish, high-quality footwear for the entire family, announced today it has signed a lease agreement to relocate the business and co-anchor the new Washington Place development in Newton. A grand reopening is expected in the fall of 2020.
The Barn, a retail fixture since 1948, will move less than a mile to the east on Washington Street from its longtime location at 25 Kempton Place in West Newton, due to a planned redevelopment of the property. The Barn will be the first locally owned business with a lease at Washington Place, the mixed-use project of Mark Development under construction at the corner of Washington and Walnut streets in the village of Newtonville.
“The Barn’s loyal customers are the key to our success and we are grateful for the support they have shown our independent family business for over 70 years,” said Joe Carrigan, president of The Barn Family Shoe Store. “We are confident that our new location at Washington Place will offer them greater convenience and an improved shopping experience while also contributing to the vitality of Newtonville.”
The Barn’s new space will encompass 8,500 square feet of retail space on a single floor in the heart of Washington Place. At its new location, the award-winning shoe store will continue to carry best-selling brands of high-quality footwear and casual apparel for women, men and children with the added convenience of housing the merchandise under one roof.
“It’s wonderful news to hear that The Barn and the Carrigan family will be staying in the neighborhood,” said Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller. “This is a great example of how new development can accommodate our local businesses so Newton families can continue to enjoy this institution that has served families for generations.”
Patrons will have access to over 100 free surface parking spaces in the complex. The new store will have an entrance connecting to a landscaped plaza extending from Washington Street and another doorway facing Walnut Street.
Seems to answer recent questions in this thread:
https://village14.com/2019/06/25/the-shoe-barn-to-move-to-washington-place/
Kind of ironic that a shoe store doesn’t feature improved walkability for more people to their new site!
This is amazing news. In an era of retail upheaval, it is so gratifying to see a local institution not only surviving, but thriving and adapting.
With the Barn joining Henry Bear Park and Cafe Nero as officially announced new tenants of Washington Pl and Austin St, residents will have some exciting new reasons to spend time in our village center.
Well, here’s some food for thought
https://www.zillow.com/blog/factors-to-consider-before-renting-in-a-mixed-use-building-132023/
Yes, that is “food” for thought. A current Google Maps view shows that Bacon Bacon, the restaurant that had to close briefly because the smell of bacon was bothering people, is alive and operating in a traditional San Francisco style building in Haight-Ashbury.
SF must have thousands of businesses of this type of “mixed use”, bringing the convenience of a mini-grocery or cafe right into the neighborhoods. Coolidge Corner is probably the closest local example, but it’s still very different. Newton generally doesn’t have that, but its village model is a good compromise for many, and contemporary mixed use offers a way to augment that with more housing even closer to businesses and services.
This link provides a development perspective on the trends of mixed use (it isn’t an unbiased source, but it does provide information about what’s driving the mixed use development trend):
https://www.metrocommercial.com/news/mixed-use-developments-a-look-at-whats-driving-this-trend/
I lived near Coolidge corner. There aren’t that many apartments over retail, especially restaurants. There are some on Beacon, but the majority of above retail is offices. Often medical. Some of the brownstones are now 100 percent medical ( 1100 Beacon, although that’s closer to Boston). As you move closer into town – ie Newbury Steet, where it just so happens I also lived- you get into more apartments over commercial, but they’re less desirable.
“Mixed-use is where people want to live, work and play.”
We’ll see if that pans out in the long run. It’s nothing new in the urban core; and as people who have lived in an urban core at one time ( like when I lived in Newbury Street) will tell you, it’s not too bad when you’re in your 20s with no kids. But later the noise etc. gets old, especially when you have small humans in the living space with you also making noise!
Waking up to the smell of Bacon actually sounds great to me! But not every day.
“it’s not too bad when you’re in your 20s with no kids. But later the noise etc. gets old, especially when you have small humans in the living space with you also making noise!”
Or in your 60s with no kids and a new building with good sound isolation, and you really need an elevator.
And that doesn’t sound all that bad to me. The up side to market rate apartments in mixed use is that people are spending more money at local businesses. (And we should also have groceries and practical stores that benefit everyone.)
If your premise is true about the no kids part, and the statistics seem to bare that out, then even better for the load on the schools. I hope those people who decide to have a family stay in Newton, because that builds community. But they may choose to move further into the villages.
If it’s got that good sound insulation, I’d like to see a jazz club.
You want to live in Greenwhich Village – like atmosphere you gotta have a jazz club.
Village Vanguard , Newton.
Has a nice ring to it.