25 South Pleasant Street (rt)
Oriental Flavor LLC will appear before the Amherst Planning Board on 10/17 to Request Site Plan approval for a change of use from a retail store (former Scandihoovians) to a Class I Restaurant, including renovations to the interior space and exterior renovations.
Amherst
The current high profile problems the owners of iconic Main Street restaurant, Amherst Chinese, are experiencing may of course help a new competing enterprise, but when all is said and done -- quality of food, service and price will play the dominant role.
17 comments:
Let me emphasize first and foremost that I'm glad this space is finally being filled again--it's been sitting empty for too long. However, do we really need another restaurant there? More specifically: do we really need another restaurant that serves more of the same fare? Looking at just downtown, I count four restaurants who will be competing with this new establishment (AmChi, Panda East, Fresh Side, Crazy Noodles), and that's not even counting Ginger Garden a little further out, or any restaurants in Hadley. I'm all for Amherst becoming a dining destination, but can we please have a little diversity/creativity? There are nights I want something else than sesame chicken or a slice of pizza, you know...
Amherst is not a destination spot for anything, especially for dining. I am not sure where this assumption comes from...
Judie's on Mothers Day, for instance.
Simply put Two Words:
Meal Tax.
"Amherst is not a destination spot for anything, especially for dining. I am not sure where this assumption comes from..."
Maybe it's because it's hard to impossible to get a table on Saturday night at Judies, the Monkey Bar, Chez Albert, the Lumber Yard, or Mission Cantina. Not to mention the perpetual lines at Antonio's.
Anonymous 5:21, you are right on the money. (I have taken to calling Mission Cantina "Mission: Cantina" because in 5 attempts I have never been able to get a table!)
Of course, there's also the problem of downtown parking. It's gotten even worse now that Amherst College has bought and is renovating the old white building/church on the common; it's taken out a number of weekend-option parking spaces.
BTW, the storefront on the left in your photo that's covered with brown paper will be a sandwich shop.
One busy night a week for the few weeks there is business in Amherst does not make a good business model. Just the real estate moguls trying to justify the overpriced rents. The future will show the true value of their properties.
If that business space is so great why didn't Michaelson keep his business there. He even owns the space. The same could be said about silverscape and Deangleo subs. Again perpetuate the myth that Amherst is a great place to do business and keep the rents up.
Last I looked Amherst landlords were not putting guns to the heads of prospective tenants.
A prison has alot of dinner guests as well, but that doesn't make it a destination, does it?
Students can't often leave, so things get packed.
The folks I see waiting in line at Judie's or Mission Cantina don't resemble prisoners or students.
Scandihoovians closed their Northampton store too. They just didn't have a business that could survive a deep recession. The rents in Amherst are quite reasonable. If you don't like them then open your business elsewhere. Where else in this area do you get 30,000 students and a town of 30,000 permanent residents? Well-run businesses thrive. Go into Amherst Coffee and you will see a place that's packed every time of day every day of the week. And you don't see Antonio's crying about their rent. I can find you empty storefronts in Ware and Palmer and the rents are much lower. Neither of those businesses are planning to move there.
Yes the rents in Amherst must be resonable, the same shops are still there since I was in college in the 80's. There is hardly any turnover. But I was there last February and was surprised Barts was closed. I couldn't figure out why a shop that sells coffee, sandwiches etc would close during the busy college semester. Oh well I was glad it was still there probably the original owners wanting to take a break.
Barts is back open. Your '80s fantasy is preserved.
Under New Management.
Scandihoovians did *NOT* close their Northampton store. They moved within Noho and are alive and well in Thornes Market.
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