Our roundup of the latest Wellesley, Mass., business news:
Roosters will move within Linden Square
Roosters Men’s Grooming Center celebrates 10 years in town this coming spring, and it will likely be doing it in a new Linden Square location just around the corner from its current spot. Roosters is expected to move into this slightly larger space between April and June where the Pink Soda salon has been. It will face the parking lot shared by Roche Bros., and others.
Roosters’ current spot will be converted into restaurant space, with property manager Federal Realty carving out an outside seating area as it has done on the other side of the building where Sweetgreen resides.
Barbers talk, as do their customers, who have been sharing word of this impending move to us in recent weeks. We spoke with Roosters’ owner John Santanella to confirm the situation, which he did.
Santanella can hardly believe Roosters will soon be celebrating 10 years in Wellesley, where it has attracted a big following of kids and grownups. A common scenario has been moms setting up appointments for their kids at Roosters, followed by the dads getting appointments, and then the dads taking over the logistics, Santanella says. “Dads took haircuts off mom’s list,” he said.
The new space will feature the same general set-up of generously spaced barber shop chairs 6 feet apart, though will gain new fixtures and lighting, a proper space for employees to take breaks, and a dedicated receptionist area.
Santanella had grown his Roosters holdings to six but has refocused on the Wellesley location since just before the pandemic started.
Oath Pizza sniffing around?
So, what will move into Rooster’s current space when it relocates? One possible candidate is Oath Pizza, an outfit that touts its avocado oil crust and fresh ingredients, and that started in Nantucket (so many Wellesley residents are probably familiar with it).
Oath also has locations in Chestnut Hill, a bunch of colleges, and other spots.
Oath arriving on the heels of CPK leaving would keep pizza shop equilibrium in check locally.
We’ve reached out to Oath to learn about its possible plans.
CPK sign goes down
While California Pizza Kitchen had been sending mixed signals about its fate in recent weeks and months (hiring signs, social media posts that it wasn’t going anywhere), the Linden Square restaurant has now closed. Making that visibly official was the removal its signs on Wednesday.
Tatte Bakery & Cafe is moving into the space once it’s redesigned.
Thank You Cheesy Street Grill
Cheesy Street Grill , located at the Boston Sports Institute at 900 Worcester St. on Rte. 9 East, is our newest Swellesley advertiser. you can grab a bite there, including a wide selection of grilled cheese sandwiches, when enjoying activities at the sports complex.
We really appreciate support from the community for our independent journalism effort. A combination of advertisements and reader contributions allow us to do what we do.