Category — Newton Centre

Big Picture Framing 81 Union Street, Newton Centre and 60 Needham Street, Newton Highlands (plus other locations)

Barry Stahl & Bob Clayton opened Big Picture Framing, Boston’s premier chain of custom framing stores, in 2000.  (Barry was raised in Newton, but now lives in Metrowest.)
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Lash L’Amour 55 Langley Rd Newton Centre

Cynthia Tsang, of Boston, opened Lash L’amour in 2010.  Lash L’Amour is an upscale eyelash & eyebrow extension boutique providing an array of beauty services including manicures and pedicures and wedding make-up.  They employ the latest techniques used on Hollywood’s celebrities and highest quality semi-permanent eyelashes and medical grade adhesives in their process.

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After 30+ years, John Dewar has closed its Newton Centre location and consolidated its operations at its newer Linden Square store in Wellesley. The local store closed January 9.

India Paradise on Union Street has closed — meaning there’s not one Indian restaurant in the 18 square miles of the Garden City. Residents will have to go to Needham, Waltham, Watertown, or Brookline for a vindaloo fix.

Brussels Sprouts is moving from its Newtonville location to the space vacated last year by Big Sky Bakery & Cafe at 105 Union Street. The store’s planned opening is Saturday, January 14.

Cupcakes on Centre has opened in the space vacated by the Mad Batter.

Duchess 77 Union Street, Newton Centre

Owner Rachel Sciaba of Brighton has owned and operated Duchess since 2009.   Duchess features women’s contemporary apparel.

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Directly from the Newton Cultural Alliance…

The Stroll features one-night only sales, music, cold weather goodies, a community sing-a-long, dance, visual art exhibits and sale, dining and more!  Join your friends and neighbors for this exciting evening. Make it a new family tradition!

Ready for the holidays? The Newton Cultural Alliance’s Arts Stroll & Shop is making holiday shopping and spirit easy for you. On Thursday, December 8, enjoy extended retail shopping hours in Newton Centre while you are entertained by NCA performers and artists!

Daddy’s Junky Music officially closed its doors this past Wednesday, shutting the door on one of the last truly local chains of guitar and musical instrument stores in the region. In talking about why this small regional chain failed, Fred Bramante (the chain’s founder) noted competition from online retailers as the prime reason. By buying online, customers saved paying sales tax (ironic perhaps as Daddy’s first store was just over the line in NH in a specific bid to draw Massachusetts customers for tax savings). While Daddy’s is more of a Boston institution, local Newton merchants like the Boston Running Company, Big Sky Bakery & Café, and New England Mobile Book Fair have either closed or are seeking to transfer to new ownership.

Yes, the economy is certainly somewhat to blame, but not entirely. And, since the UPS truck still drops off boxes from Amazon and Zappos throughout our city, what does it say about the commitment to our communities if we lose the merchants and stores that we love? How do we justify allowing the businesses that we wax nostalgic about to disappear?

Local merchants provide goods and services that we need and that are specifically tailored to the local market. In many cases they provide the essential foundation upon which the community itself builds. How many of us recall and treasure the bookstore, coffee house, diner, hobby shop, or even a record store that featured prominently in our lives?

Local merchants are active participants in the community themselves. They are as tied to the community as we are to them. It is much harder for them to pull up stakes and move to a different town than it is for a chain store. Since their success or failure is so tightly wound with that of the community, they are often exactly the ones most willing to invest in that community, through sponsoring local events and helping to fund things like local streetscape improvements.

Yes, the internet is convenient and cheap, but the community loses if that is the only place we shop.

So there are a few things we can do about this. Some of them involve changing regulations to try to either make things easier for merchants or to make it harder for chain stores to come into our village centers. However, this also seems to ignore the basic market reality of the situation.

Local merchants are only successful if people buy their food, services, and goods. Local stores are worth a second (or even a first) look. When you need a lightbulb, try stopping by Swartz or Waban Hardware. Need a book? Try browsing Newtonville Bookstore. The coffee and baked goods at l’Aroma are at least as good as Starbucks, and they have better teas.

Or better yet, try spending a weekend afternoon walking through Newtonville, Newton Highlands, Nonantum, West Newton, or Newton Centre and sampling the stores along the way. In between an excellent lunch and a few fine cups of coffee, I think it very likely you’ll find some new favorite haunts, and maybe even make some new friends along the way. And, you’ll enjoy yourself and help to maintain the village life that makes our city great.