Wellesley Toy Shop will have its grand re-opening on Wednesday at the 59 Central St. space where Wellesley Gift Shop previously operated. And moving into 57 Central St., where the Toy Shop was, will be Cocobeet, a juice bar-plus that currently has a location at City Hall Plaza in Boston.
Andy Brown, 23-year owner of the Wellesley Toy Shop,says “This is an exciting time and we look forward to many more successful years in Wellesley.” Brown next month will check out the NYC Toy Fair, which he describes as “the biggest show of the year to look for the newest toys from the 100s of vendors that exhibit. We always try to stay up to date with all the hottest trends and focus on our top sellers.”
(Brown notes, by the way, that he choose not to carry hoverboards, those self-balancing devices that Wellesley College, Babson and other schools have banned on campus due to safety concerns, including fires. Brown can tell you from personal experience that they aren’t so easy to ride either.)
As for Cocobeet, the business that will be filling the vacated Toy Shop space, we’re talking healthy food.
Cocobeet specializes in cold-pressed juices, raw vegan food, superfood smoothies and organic juice cleanses to rid you of those nasty toxins, and offers online ordering for people on the go. Cocobeet’s menu also boasts breakfast items, sandwiches and salads.
“We sell equal amounts of food and juice,” stressed Co-founder Kyle Rusconi, who started up Cocobeet in the wake of his wife’s breast cancer diagnosis, which set the couple off on a super-healthy food path. “We purposefully did not put juice in our name as we are more focused on providing all-around plant-based eating and lifestyle.”
Rusconi, who ditched his 17-year financial industry career to switch over to the juice and healthy foods business, says he and fellow co-founder Onur Ozkoc chose Wellesley “because this is the town that we were most often asked to bring our organic offerings to next.”
It’s currently unclear when Cocobeet will open in Wellesley, as storefront renovations are underway. Also slated to get a Cocobeet, by the way, is Jakarta, Indonesia .
Cocobeet will have some company in the healthy juice and foods market in Wellesley. As we previously reported, Thirst Juice will be taking up one of the retail spots at the Belclare condo complex.
