The latest Wellesley, Mass., business news:
Latest on Blank Street coffee
The word in Wellesley Square is that people are really excited about the Blank Street coffee shop opening at 61A Central Street in between Wasik’s and JP Licks. Blank Street wants to open by year end, but the status of the shop remains murky, as Blank Street and the property manager attempt to sort out a grease trap issue with the Department of Public Works and Health Department. Grease traps ensure that waste from food retailers don’t muck up the pipes for everyone else.
Blank Street’s urgency no doubt increased when the Starbucks across the street just closed. The opportunity is clearly there to win over former patrons of that shop.
Blank Street is looking to use internal grease traps, but the town has more elaborate standards involving external systems, as has been discussed with property manager Linear Retail’s Lauren Rogers at a couple of Board of Public Works meetings. There’s been talk of a pilot program with the internal grease traps involving a yet-to-be agreed upon sampling method, and word of this possibility has other retailers sniffing around the DPW as well on this matter. We reached out this week to Rogers and Blank Street, as well as Town Engineer Dave Hickey to get an update, and will freshen this post if we hear back.
DPW Director David Cohen shared a brief update with the board in early September (see Wellesley Media recording).
Blank Street is on the Design Review Board meeting agenda for Oct. 8 to talk signs and minor construction. Shown here is a mock-up from the proponent of what the storefront might look like.
Know of Wellesley businesses opening or closing? Fill us in: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com
We Rock the Spectrum could return to Wellesley
We Rock the Spectrum, which closed its sensory gym at 34 Central St. in Wellesley Square at the end of September, is seeking another franchise owner to restart a gym in town.
Unraveling Orvis’s message
The president of Orvis, the outdoor wear and sporting goods retailer that operates a shop in Linden Square, has issued a message to customers that the business is going to refocus on its roots of fly fishing and wingshooting. What that means for the clothing and other items sold by Orvis is hard to say, but the company says you’ll see deals on “Last Release products” that won’t return.
The VTDigger news site reports that Orvis, which has been cutting back its workforce, will close about half of its stores by early 2026. Whether the Wellesley one survives remains to be seen.
Trying to get beyond the marketing language, we asked Orvis what it’s message actually meant and received this response: “Like many in retail, Orvis’ business model faced a sizeable shift with the introduction of an unprecedented tariff landscape. For more than a century-and-a-half, we’ve been committed to being leaders in our space for customers and partners, beginning with our industry-leading fly rods still crafted in Vermont today. To ensure a durable brand and model for decades to come, we are focusing on our core strengths and making the difficult but necessary decision to rescale the business by tightening our assortment and reducing our corporate store footprint.”
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