Found has been Lost

[ron_newman]

Found, the used clothing consignment shop at 255 Elm Street, has closed. Someone identifying himself as the owner was standing outside a few minutes ago, and he told me that the landlord is "a greedy jerk who jacked up the rent, and is not a good person." He also said the shop had suffered from shoplifting. He hopes to find a new location where he can reopen it.

Comments

[smammy]

That space always seemed tricky to me. It's HUGE, and I can't imagine that many small businesses could make enough money to afford the rent on a space that size. In my fantasy, that space could house several micro-stores. Kind of like a farmer's market but not for expensive vegetables and not in a parking lot.

[ron_newman]

Although when it was Almy's or Gorin's, didn't that store include both the current Found and Foundry spaces plus a second floor?

[smammy]

I don't know what those things are!

[ron_newman]

Department store that used to occupy the space.

[serious-noir.livejournal.com]

The micro store idea is something I've always thought would work in DS – at the SSI building or that Found space. A few small stores, carts, some food/coffee "mini-trucks", a pop-up performance space for acoustic music or story-telling – enough variety and events to draw browsers in to hang out.

I imagine the logistics of something like that would be a big challenge and perhaps the revenue possibilities thin.

[ron_newman]

I wonder if Somerville Local First or the Somerville Flea would be interested in trying something like that? Both of them have a lot of experience in organizing many one-day versions of what you describe.

[smammy]

I imagine that zoning could derail something like this. IIRC, "Buzzy's Bazaar" (the head shop that briefly existed in the basement of the pet store that briefly existed on Highland Ave) was shut down not for being a head shop but for being "two businesses sharing the same storefront" or some such nonsense.

[teko.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see something akin to the Food Hub inside Somerville's Aeronaut Brewing Company -- they lease food-booth space, and house a chocolate company, the Barismo roastery, and (formerly) a food-delivery company.