Tag: small business
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After Twenty Years on Vale Avenue, the Millhouse Café Is Betting on Foundry Row
Vale Avenue’s Millhouse Café will open a second location near Foundry Row this fall, betting that the neighborhood’s growing biotech workforce can support a satellite of the downtown institution.
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A Year After Reopening, Mill Street Diner Says Business Is Steadier Than Before the Fire
A year after reopening from a fire, the Mill Street Diner says weekday lunch revenue is up 15 percent, driven by nearby biotech workers, even as owner Denny Kowalski says he still refuses to open a second location.
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Riverlight Festival Doubles Its Food Vendor Lineup as Crowds Keep Growing
This year’s Riverlight Festival will feature two dozen food vendors along the Kestrel River Greenway, nearly double the lineup from five years ago, as organizers work to keep pace with rising attendance.
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How Ledger & Leaf Books Outlasted Two Recessions and a Pandemic on Vale Avenue
Vale Avenue’s Ledger & Leaf Books turns twenty this weekend, having outlasted chain bookstores and online retail even as rising downtown rents and a changing customer base test its next chapter.
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After Months of Organizing, Millhouse Café Staff Certify a Union
Baristas at The Millhouse Café voted 11-3 to unionize, citing rent pressure and schedule cuts, in a rare organizing win at a downtown Vale Avenue small business.
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New Vendors Join Vale Avenue Farmers Market as Season Begins
The Vale Avenue Farmers Market opened its season Saturday with eight new vendor stalls and its largest-ever applicant waitlist, reflecting rising demand for the roughly forty stalls the market can fit downtown.
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Foundry Row Gets Its First Brewery, Housed in a Former Fastener Warehouse
Anchor & Bolt Brewing opened this month inside a former Bellwater Steel & Fastener Co. warehouse, giving Foundry Row its first dedicated brewery and a new use for one of its last vacant industrial buildings.
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Farmers Market Bets on Vale Avenue Foot Traffic Through the Cold Months
The Vale Avenue Farmers Market is adding a six-Saturday holiday pop-up season, backed by a $22,000 Chamber of Commerce grant, to keep downtown foot traffic alive through the colder months.
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Lowertown Launches Its Own Restaurant Week, Betting Diners Will Cross the Line From Foundry Row
Twelve Lowertown restaurants will offer discounted prix-fixe menus during the neighborhood’s first-ever restaurant week, an effort organizers hope will draw diners who typically flock to Foundry Row instead.
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Vale Avenue Vacancy Rate Falls as Storefront Fee Ordinance Marks First Year
Downtown Core’s storefront vacancy rate fell to 11.4 percent this quarter, the first sustained decline in years, though city officials and landlords disagree on how much credit a contested vacancy-fee ordinance deserves.