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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When I drove my yesterday and saw kraft paper covering the windows, I worried we might have lost another Newtonville gathering place. Heard with relief the coffeehouse news: Taste will reopen as George Howell Coffee next month.

My thanks to the journalists at Village 14, a great new local news resource started by former Newton Tab publisher Greg Reibman. Add them to your Facebook, Twitter, and/or RSS feed.

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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The Urban Grape 7 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill (near Star Market) Business hours: Monday through Wednesday, 9:30AM to 9:30PM; Thursday through Saturday 9:30AM to 11:00PM; Sundays from 12:00PM to 6:00PM)

Husband-and-wife team TJ and Hadley Douglas of Boston opened The Urban Grape in 2010 offering a vast selection of wine, spirits, beer and sake with a philosophy of unparalleled customer service coupled with a “no wine snobs” mentality.    What makes the Urban Grape different is the way in which they organize their store; they call it simply, Progressive Shelving. Essentially, the bottles are grouped together by their weight or viscosity. TJ tastes every bottle that comes in (they have a rotating 850 bottle collection) and categorizes the wines by color, then weight. The progressive setup allows customers to experience similarly styled wines that they might not have otherwise tried.

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