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They could call it Potemkin Square

With Jax on the way out, Lane, on the Real Whirled, laments the state of Roslindale Square:

... Add that to the list of empty storefronts in our little village. It's almost a joke with people now. Some neighbors say things like; 'What would the village look like with actual stores in those empty spaces? Oh well, we will never know. Will we?'...

You'd think if the residents noticed and cared, that the owners might notice too. They may want to do what they could to fill the vacancy and start making money off of their real estate. But it doesn't seem so.

Ed. Rozzie question: Lane's post also bemoans the loss of Jax just because it's Jax. What does Jax have that that other discount place, across from the park, doesn't? Is it the anti-Jax, repelling all Jax shoppers or something? Obviously, I haven't spent much time in either place; I don't tend to be in need of duvet covers or cheap luggage, I guess.

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that the place across from Adams Park has "off brand" items. Generic stuff, whereas Jax had name brand things. For school supplies, especially. I bought some terribly inferior glue sticks from the one across the park.

The empty storefronts are a sad sight, for sure. I would love a smoothie/wrap place, like the Purple Cactus. Maybe a yarn shop, or a chi-chi paper/craft store. Why have they been empty for so long?

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Jax felt like it was part of the Square because it had been there longer than you, by contrast one gets the feeling the Dollar Store will vanish at moment's notice as dollar stores so often do. Jax employed a variety of people, all of them slow, while the Dollar Store is run by an African immigrant family most of whom give off a "I have a gun under the counter" vibe. Theres also some sort of not quite legit looking Dish TV service being offered in the dollar store. You cant help but think of lead coated toys and poisonous toothpaste when you browse the dollar store. Remember the fire there a couple weeks ago, because one of their Grill Lighters wouldn't turn off?

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Serbere

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I will NEVER buy another off-brand grill lighter ever again! We got one at Family Dollar a couple of years back, and the "child lock" failed while I was lighting candles on the mantle and the lighter wouldn't go off.

I hollered at everyone to clear out of my way and took it outside to our cement patio and laid it down on a brick wall where there was nothing to catch fire. If I couldn't turn it off, I'd let it burn out in a safe zone. Fortunately, I pried it with a screwdriver and turned it off.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission actually sent a guy in a car to come collect it! I also gave him the receipt, and he bought a case of them at the same Davis Square location for testing.

Nasty pieces of crap. Stay away!

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I've never seen these grill lighters, but how about just submerging it in the toilet?

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Oo, oo, I know the answer to this one. Jax had a nasty old man running it. He hated kids and was forever ready to accuse any of them of stealing or breaking things.

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I would really encourage folks interested in the types of businesses in the square to get involved in the Roslindale Main Streets and the Roslindale Board of Trade... we seriously need some new blood in those organizations.

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It's hard for me to understand why there should be empty storefronts on Birch and Corinth Streets. It seems to me that our little downtown is fairly busy and prosperous. Many businesses have opened in the few years I've been in 02131 that are doing quite well now - the wine store, the cheese store, Birch Street, Sofia's Grotto - and it seems a lot of people are moving to Roslindale from other neighborhoods like JP and Somerville, bringing disposable income with them.

So what's the hitch? Foot traffic + money + available storefront should = successful business, no?

That little shoe store was kind of a joke, and I think it would have failed anywhere, but why wouldn't a more reasonable business succeed? Roslindale is chock-a-block with strollers now, so how about a toy store or a candy store?

I don't mean to commit some form of blasphemy, but not even a Starbucks? (Not to pick on Emack & Bolio's, but it always seems dirty and messy to me, and I do think there's room for two coffeeshops in the Village).

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You'd have to ask Stavros Frantzis, who owns most of them. Or stop by Pazzo Books and ask Tom for his explanation.

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that many in Roslindale blame the moribund condition of Birch and Corinth storefronts on the landlord, Stavros Frantzis. I've seen people blame his 28-page, shopping mall-style lease for scaring away tenants.

I find that remarkable, and wonder how such a putative situation developed, considering that Frantzis is elsewhere given credit for the area's revival.

One person who’s taken a particularly active role in revitalizing Roslindale is commercial developer Stavros Frantzis, a resident of Jamaica Plain who purchased two buildings in the middle of the village in 1998. After making significant renovations to the now-beautiful two-story brick buildings, he rented out several storefronts to boutiques.

That beautiful courtyard area that I am so fond of, which used to be a dank and deserted alley? Frantzis planned it.

Frantzis wants to convert a courtyard behind one of his buildings into usable outdoor space for concerts, patio dining, and basic chilling. Plans have been stalled for several years because owners of the buildings bordering the courtyard have been reluctant to cooperate. But Stavros (“S-T-A-V-as-in-Victory-R-O-S,” he says helpfully) Frantzis isn’t having it. “If nothing happens by the end of the summer,” he says, “I will spend my own money and I will convert the part that belongs to me. I am hoping that I can call the attention and solicit the attention to change this area to a jewel in Roslindale Square.”

So has Frantzis gone over to The Dark Side? After spending years and dollars and energy trying to improve the area - at the request of the community?

" Horrible, " is how Stavros Frantzis describes the street when he bought the property three years ago. " Birch Street was not on the map at that time. It was a marginal street. "

Many of the storefronts were empty. The others were occupied by services, a hair salon, real estate office, an accountant who did little to improve or distinguish the area, Frantzis said.

He was entreated by the community to buy the land and fix it up.

" The people in Roslindale, especially Main Streets, knew the work I had done in Jamaica Plain, " he said. " I have taken properties that are underutilized and brought in good tenants. They convinced me to buy it, twisted my arm. "

Or is he just waiting for new tenants he approves of, after the failure of several of the botiquey stores (which seemed to sell little to nothing) that previously occupied Birch Street?

The secret, he said, has been patience, waiting for the right store to approach him.

" I try to create a theme of nice stores, so I'm patient, " he said.

Stavros Frantzis' name is splashed all over the empty storefronts, so it's perhaps a bit easy to target him as the problem. I don't know everything, but it does appear to me that, at least at one time, he was also part of the solution. So maybe putting too much blame on his shoulders isn't right.

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After the first of the "new" shops (Fornax and the Village Market) came in, Frantzis did do quite a lot to revitalize the Square - and, yes, I remember what it was like back before those places (back when that abandoned gas station was actually still open, even). Again, however, Tom at Pazzo Books can provide the alternative view.

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I'm pretty late to this conversation, but the Birch St. problem has gotten complicated. Stavros definitely did a great job of turning Birch St. into a lovely little shopping area, but, as the Rozzie Renaissance slowed down, he seemed unwilling to let go of his view of it as both high end retail space and this thing that he created. It seems like he's become emotionally invested in having it turn out just how he pictured it - which is understandable to a point - but, counter intuitively, this has made him leave it vacant.

Ultimately it's just about money though. He's looking for the low 20's per sq. foot for the property with provisions to pay a percentage of the entire buildings maintenance and a 6% yearly kicker on top. From people I've talked to, it's the 6% that is a real bummer - while it may have been semi reasonable when he started renting those properties, now it just seems like another hand in your pocket at the end of the year. As businesses have moved out because of the high rents, it has become increasingly unrealistic to rent these properties at the previous boutique shopping district rents. Now it looks like it will just be the cheese store in between the Bistro and the bank. It's all pretty depressing.

On a certain level I feel bad for him - it can be hard to separate the emotional from the business side of things and all the talk about him making a mess of Birch St. has probably, in retrospect, just hardened his resolve to do things exactly as he wants, and screw everyone else. Like always, Adam Smith's invisible hand works pretty well on a macro level, but humans tend to run things on the micro level...

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What I hear you saying is that Mr. Frantzis is suffering from loss aversion. He sunk a bunch of money into the renovation of his building with the expectation that boutiquey type stores could pay him pretty high rent, giving him a good return on his investment. It turned out that none of them could actually sustain that based on their revenue in that location. But instead of cutting his losses and renting his empty storefronts at a lower rate and/or to less aesthetically pleasing businesses, he's actually increasing his losses by holding out for Plan A.

So maybe Birch Street's only hope is for someone to explain the irrationality of loss aversion and the sunk cost fallacy to Mr. Frantzis.

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What Mr. Frantzis did is, unquestionably, admirable. However, to leave these stores vacant for this long? Come on. The rents are either too high or something else is going on. Moreover, being a good citizen isn't a one time thing.

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It is a true mystery. It would make sense if the square were still a run-down spot with little or no foot traffic but that clearly isn't the case. Moreover, with the changing demographics of the neighborhood, you would expect the debate to be about whether we need another espresso bar or dog toy shop, not whether the revitalization has stalled.

The landlord's decision to empty these store fronts and leave them empty for so long reminds me of how developers behave when they are trying to consolodate parcels in preparation of total redevelopment. But that seems virtually preposterous in the square. The landlord can't possibly think that Main Streets and/or the residents would allow a tear down and rebuild on cute Birch Street can they? It would be nice if the landlord or Main Streets would give some insight into what is going on. Otherwise, we're left with confusion and conspiracy theories.

In case the landlord reads this blog, and has just been asleep at the switch, here are some ideas of what could go in your store fronts:

Dry cleaner
cofee shop (think 1369 in Cambridge)
nice liquor store
paper goods store (think Paper Source)

In case the landlord reads this blog and is planning on going "chain store" here's what's not going to fly:

The Gap
The Dollar Store
A check cashing place
Mc Fast Food

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