tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-99117852009-02-20T20:50:56.751-05:00Features opinion on retail, community and local projects and issues in the towns of Framingham and Natick, located in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts. Now also covering retail and related happenings in Vernon Hills, Lake Forest, and Chicago's North Shore.Justinnoreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-1567291477221462952008-05-21T21:34:00.003-04:002008-05-21T21:50:44.650-04:00

I thought it was about time for an update over here as I've updated the main pages, and it was also about time to move the large derriere a bit lower on the page. But I wanted to answer the question that I've received in a number of e-mails.As you may have noticed, site updates are a lot less frequent then they once were. There are several reasons for this.The Natick Collection is open. What was

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-73228348313070523092008-01-23T00:17:00.001-05:002008-01-23T17:36:15.612-05:00

Umm... it could be. And that's not good for the Collection. Chicago-based online fashion mag and blog Second City Style (which, I must note, I was reading for non-fashion related reasons) picked up on a story in Monday's New York Times. Entitled "Thinking Twice About That $400 Handbag," it discusses the current state of affordable luxury, and it doesn't seem to be too pretty. During the

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-7628739820396137422008-01-13T17:27:00.000-05:002008-01-13T18:52:40.623-05:00

Since I've deprived the website of content for quite some time, I figured I had to put something up, despite how lame it might be."I felt European. And also like a yuppie. I so wish I had a fleece North Face vest on." - Chicago radio host Steve Dahl"You can borrow mine next time." - Dahl newsman Buzz KilmanSo was the dialogue that ran through my head when walking into the store at the Natick

Justinnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-5378046794402799012007-09-23T00:38:00.001-04:002008-01-23T00:10:01.668-05:00

Really, MetroWest isn't that bad.Earlier today, I went to Vernon Hills, Illinois; which is the big retail area around here. Basically, my plan for the day was to pick up some bottled water. Public transportation stops at the local mall (Westfield Hawthorn) and at SuperTarget, which is across the street.The bus schedule sucks, so I was dropped off at the mall at about 4:30pm; after convincing the

Justinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-46006978865180862952007-09-06T01:26:00.001-04:002008-01-23T00:10:50.168-05:00

I've been writing in this blog quite a bit lately, maybe it's because the grand opening of the Natick Collection's expansion is so close or because I'm in a completely new place far away and in a land where opinions and retail are a bit different. But on the eve of what is possibly the second most important event in MetroWest retail (preceded, of course, by the grand opening of Shopper's World in

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-59199036096583141132007-09-03T23:19:00.000-04:002008-01-23T00:03:51.653-05:00

Where I am currently living has a very limited selection of retail. Extremely limited. The city put up a fight in the early 1990s when Burger King wanted to come to town, more recently it was Costco that got the thumbs-down. More annoyingly, I'm without a car here.It's been relatively warm during the past week in Chicagoland, and I ended up going through an entire case of water in that time.

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-33862583560631855352007-09-03T01:03:00.000-04:002007-09-03T01:13:34.870-04:00

So, I was just looking over the press release for the grand opening of Nordstrom."In addition to complimentary consultations and demonstrations, enjoy cosmetics samples* and a live radio remote show with station 107.9 WXKS-FM.""Hell, yea," I thought. I love 107.9 WXKS-FM. That's one of my favorite radio stations! Oh... no wait, what is 107.9 WXKS-FM?Turns out the live "radio remote show" is going

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-34948746783142270742007-05-22T23:40:00.000-04:002007-05-22T23:44:20.512-04:00

From addinc.com, the website of ADD, Inc. (one of the Nouvelle architects)PHILADELPHIA, PA (16 April 2007) - Tamara M. Roy, AIA, presented the design and planning behind ADD Inc's new 215-unit residential project, Nouvelle, at the American Planning Association's annual conference in an exhibit session, "New Communities, Revitalization and Redevelopment".In her talk about "What Women Want", Ms.

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-24187805024215044892007-04-23T00:06:00.000-04:002007-04-23T00:11:37.746-04:00

Last month, the owner of Good Time Emporium noted that he was considering moving the operation to the former Sam's Club in Natick to make way for the long-awaited Somerville IKEA.Bostonist has a recent piece about some issues at the Emporium... An officer on detail work had his pepper spray taken and sprayed by a drunken customer. And not just that, but after leaving on the morning of April 21, a

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-36023050589187682722007-04-19T16:17:00.000-04:002007-04-19T16:21:15.504-04:00

The best stories from the MetroWest Daily News usually regard when the Store 24 in Downtown Framingham is robbed multiple times in one night. But this item actually occurred at the Natick Collection...."Following a heated fight with his ex-boyfriend at the Natick Mall on Saturday night, a Framingham man was arrested after he punched out the passenger-side mirror on his ex's car, police said."

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-60518351373580618932007-01-04T23:52:00.000-05:002007-01-04T23:56:08.828-05:00

I was at Natick (mall) the other day, so I managed to go around the back down "Natick Mall Road" and check out the progress of the JCPenney renovations/construction.The renovations to the building are really coming along, with the letters already on the 211,000 sq. ft. building (though the west side did indicate that the store would be a "JCPenne"). The "exit to nowhere" has been taken out and

Justinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-25165394676475320922006-12-24T11:32:00.000-05:002006-12-24T12:51:26.529-05:00

I thought I'd bring up that Natick (mall) has a new website. Nope, it's not natick.com.... it's just a renovated version of natickmall.com.It's hard to tell yet if General Growth really made the right move by dropping the Mall from Natick. There's no doubt that without the word 'mall', you can create a hipper, more interesting brand, but there's no question that the name is sort of vague.

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-52194867867926573642006-12-13T22:00:00.000-05:002006-12-13T22:52:50.437-05:00

(Not to turn away from the Golden Triangle gossip and enter the realm of ThisIsFramingham.com, but this story is just a mile or two away in Saxonville.)Is Video Craze leaving the "North Framingham Plaza"? It appears so, as a 4,500 sq. ft. parcel with "good signage" is for lease from Framingham-based Gordon Real Estate. Outside of the Walgreens (which we all know is staying on), do any of the

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-77446747948064205442006-12-10T22:37:00.000-05:002006-12-11T11:41:43.295-05:00

A small retail note: driving through Wellesley Center today, it appears that Luisa Luisa, the equivalent of Spags 19 to Building 19, has finally been rebranded as JasmineSola, a no-brainer that seemed to take years to finally happen. Anyone know when that happened?To anyone who has no idea what was discussed in the first paragraph, JasmineSola is an upscale women's boutique selling essentially

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-70007077501388014252006-12-02T23:32:00.000-05:002006-12-03T00:30:51.386-05:00

I was recently looking for information about the old Natick Mall (being the 1994 one) on Lexis-Nexis when I came across this "A complete guide to the new Natick Mall's lineup of stores", which was published on October 9, 1994. Looking at this list of stores, how many of them still exist?Department storesFilene'sJordan Marsh (Jordan Marsh's final store built, became Macy's in 1996)Lord &

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-1164245985981080702006-11-22T20:07:00.000-05:002006-11-22T20:41:19.336-05:00

It seems like it's time for a new post on the blog.Some of you might be wondering about the plans for a hotel on the Natick property.Here's some history: when the project was first proposed back in 2002, General Growth Properties announced that there would be some form of "boutique hotel" as part of the expansion. Since that time, most non-retail discussion about the property has surrounded the

Justinnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-1157774512872461132006-09-08T23:21:00.000-04:002006-09-15T18:44:50.320-04:00

There's one last store to cover, and you've probably heard of this one.William Filene's Sons & Company was founded in 1881 in Boston, Massachusetts, Filene himself had previously run a small shop in Salem which was founded in 1852.While Filene's legendary store in Boston opened in 1912, one of the most legendary elements of the store was the "Automatic Bargain Basement", which Edward Filene

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-1157772040777072652006-09-08T22:16:00.000-04:002006-09-08T23:20:41.203-04:00

In 1852, a dry goods store opened on Lake Street in Chicago, Illinois, known as Potter Palmer & Company. In 1865, Pittsfield, Massachusetts native Marshall Field with a group of partners bought out the majority of Palmer's store, and one by one, Field acquired much of his other partners shares. But in 1868, Palmer convinced Field and his partner at the time to lease a store at the corner of State

Justinnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-1157767822222676242006-09-08T21:32:00.000-04:002006-09-08T22:10:22.296-04:00

Robinson's-May is the result of two stores that merged in 1993: J.W. Robinson's and May Company California.Robinson's was acquired by Associated Dry Goods in 1957, which merged with May in 1986.But the May name itself dates back to 1881, when Asher Hamburger founded A. Hamburger & Sons in Los Angeles, California. May Company acquired Hamburger in 1923, and the store was renamed May Company

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-1157765013869573642006-09-08T20:52:00.000-04:002006-09-08T21:23:35.106-04:00

Foley's was founded in Houston, Texas in 1900 as Foley Brothers, by Irishmen Patrick and James Foley, as a small store focusing on dry goods for men. In 1905, they expanded to carry women's and children's products. In 1917, the Foley's sold their chain to Galveston merchants George and Robert Cohen, and in 1922, Foley's moved into a 3-story building in Houston.Ironically, the store was first

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-1157763103854843382006-09-08T20:22:00.000-04:002006-09-08T20:51:44.463-04:00

Meier & Frank dates to a small dry goods store opened in 1857 in Portland, Oregon by Aaron Meier. In 1873, he was joined by business partner Emil Frank, and the store became known as Meier & Frank. Emil would soon leave the relationship, replaced with his son Sigmund. When Meier died one day in 1889 while eating breakfast, Sigmund Frank took control of the store, assisted by Meier's widowed

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-1157761209931021822006-09-08T19:58:00.000-04:002006-09-08T20:20:09.963-04:00

Kaufmann's was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1871. Although the original Kaufmann's store was located on Pittsburgh's south side, the company's 13-story, 775,000 sq. ft. flagship store on Smithfield Street opened in 1885. The store was elegantly renovated in 1930, and in 1946, Kaufmann's merged with the May Company.Over the years, Kaufmann's took over many retail chains, including

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-1157758899428859562006-09-08T19:20:00.000-04:002006-09-08T19:55:32.096-04:00

Strawbridge's (formally: Strawbridge and Clothier) was founded by Justus Strawbridge and Isaac Clothier in 1862 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1868, the duo purchased a building that was previously Thomas Jefferson's office and opened the company's first store selling dry goods. However, this was soon replaced by a new 5-story building, and in 1928, it was replaced by yet another store that

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-1157757603878024692006-09-08T19:06:00.000-04:002006-09-08T19:46:00.580-04:00

In 1887, J. Logan Jones founded The Cyclone, a store in Stafford, Kansas. But in 1890, Jones moved the store to Kansas City, Kansas, where it was renamed the Jones Dry Goods Company. In 1900, it became known as The Jones Store, and in 1901, Jones opened the chain's flagship store at the corner of 12th Street and Main Street in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.During the 1960s, the store became part

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9911785.post-1157756656618093362006-09-08T16:49:00.000-04:002006-09-08T19:47:59.033-04:00

Famous-Barr has the least information available about it's history of all of the May chains, ironic given the store's history within the company.In 1911, David May, who ran St. Louis-based The Famous Clothing Store with business partner Moses Shoenberg, acquired the William Barr Dry Goods Company, and merged it with Famous to create, of course, Famous-Barr. In 1913, the company opened a massive

Justinnoreply@blogger.com0