Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

RED BANK: SPICING UP THE CHURN, WITH SUBS

12-monmouth-111213-500x375-1854044The Spice & Tea Exchange plans to open a store at 12 Monmouth Street. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Rcsm2_010508Some random updates from the ever-changing mix of stores and restaurants in downtown Red Bank that we call the redbankgreen Retail Churn

• From Ice to spice: the Spice & Tea Exchange, a chain of independently owned and operated merchants of gourmet spices, herbs, salts, teas and more, has filed papers with the borough to open at 12 Monmouth Street. The space was last, and briefly, occupied by Ice Jewelry, and before that, Soapmarket.

Landlord Bill Meyer tells Retail Churn that the business is jamming for a pre-Christmas opening. Ambitious.

• Jersey Mike’s subs, an ever-expanding franchise operation with New Jersey roots, plans to open a store in the City Centre strip mall at Maple Avenue and Water Street.

jersey-mikes-111213-500x375-8749278Jersey Mike’s is planning to open one of its sub shops in the former home of White Dove cleaners. (Click to enlarge)

Jersey Mike’s will add a competitor to the already-saturated sub market, which saw the recent addition of Canio Paradiso’s Red Bank Subs.

The space was long occupied by White Dove, a dry cleaner that recently relocated to Shrewsbury Avenue in Tinton Falls, where it’s touting convenient drive-through service.

• Meanwhile, and speaking of subs, who knows what’s going on with the approved Subway at 60 Broad Street? After a burst of activity in September, the place still hasn’t opened. It was approved two years ago.

• Tina Bulwin won an OK to from the borough zoning board to relocate her two-year-old Flowers on Front florist shop, now at 5 East Front, to 59 Maple Avenue, at the corner of Gold Street. That space was formerly occupied by a furniture store. On the store’s Facebook page, Bulwin says she hopes to open by early December.

Once the move is completed, the new Muang Thai restaurant plans to expand into the space vacated by the florist.

• Demolition work is well underway at the former Jade Garden on Broad Street, where a new pharmacy and two other as-yet-unidentified retail shops are going in.

• Next door, at the corner of Broad and Harding Road, the windows of the former Tower Hill Antiques / Lamplighter stores have been papered over. Usually, that’s a signal that something’s coming. But commercial broker Geof Brothers tells Churn there’s nothing imminent.

An investor who asked not to be identified yet is about to close on the purchase of the building and “wants to do retail sales of art on the first floor,” but no tenant has been lined up, said Brothers.

The building has been vacant since the sudden death of owner Raymond Valerio in October 2010.

• As previously noted, Emilia is closing. The women’s dresses and accessories shop was facing what owner Jessy Krol said was a nearly 30-percent rent hike. Krol, who maintained an interior design consultancy throughout her two-year stay at 28 Monmouth Street, said she’ll return to that business full-time after the store closes November 26.

• Rugs & Home is closing at 16 West Front Street, with screaming yellow “going out of business” signs in the window and a sandwich board out on the sidewalk. Question: who even knew it had opened?

• The next hearing on the proposed Walgreen’s pharmacy, which would be built on the site of the former Rassas Buick dealership at the south end of Broad Street, is tentatively scheduled for December 2.

We saw an email recently being circulated by a resident who favors the proposal, and is trying to rally like-minded neighbors who fear that something worse – “a standard convenience store… with no landscaping to speak of and tons of wet food garbage in unsightly dumpsters” – will be be built there if Walgreen’s is shot down.

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
Partyline
VOLUNTEERS GET INTO THE WEEDS
Toting plastic trash bags, 51 volunteers conducted a walking litter cleanup on Red Bank's West Side Saturday.
“IT’S A PARTY AT WAWA!”
You wish you could vibe like Brian, who lives on the other side of Hubbard’s Bridge. He caught redbankgreen’s attention in Red B ...
POPE OKS ORATORY
RED BANK: St. Anthony of Padua obtains papal approval to establish Oratory of St. Philip Neri, a community of priests and brothers devoted t ...
RED BANK: NEW MURAL BRIGHTENS CORNER
RED BANK: Lunch Break founder Norma Todd is depicted in a mural painted this week on the front of the newly renovated social service agency.
TULIPS TOGETHER
Spring tulips taking in the sunset outside the Molly Pitcher Inn in Red Bank Monday evening.
RIVER RANGERS RETURN
River Rangers, a summer canoeing program offered by the Navesink Maritime Heritage Association, returns this summer for up to 20 participa ...
DOUBLE DYLAN IN RED BANK
Trucks for a production company filming what one worker said was a Bob Dylan biography have lined Monmouth Street the past two days with cre ...
AFTER THE RAIN
A pear tree branch brought down by a brief overnight storm left a lovely tableau on the sidewalk in front of Red Bank's Riverside Gardens Pa ...
CONE OF UNCERTAINTY
Asked by a redbankgreen reporter why these cones were on top of cars, the owner of the car in the foreground responded: “That’s ...
RAIL RIDER’S VIEW
A commuter's view of Cooper's Bridge and the Navesink River from North Jersey Coast Line train 3320 out of Red Bank Tuesday morning.
PUT ME IN COACH!
Red Bank T-Ball kicked off at East Side park on Saturday morning. The brisk weather proved to be no deterrent to the young players, ranging ...
IT’S A SIGN!
Once proudly declaring its all-but-certain arrival in Spring 2019, the project previously known as Azalea Gardens springs to life again with ...
SPRINGTIME MEMORIES OF CARL
The Easter Bunny getup and St. Patrick’s Day hat that belonged to longtime Red Bank crossing guard and neighborhood smile-creator Carl ...
RED TRUCKS AT RED ROCK
A small dishwasher fire at Red Rock Tap and Grill was put out quickly by firefighters overnight, causing minimal damage. Red Bank Fire Depar ...
CREATIVE COVER UP
The windows of Pearl Street Consignment on Monmouth Street were smashed when a driver crashed their car through them injuring an employee la ...
THEY’RE BACK!
Ospreys returned to the skies over Red Bank this week for the first time since they migrated to warmer climes in late fall. With temperature ...
SPRING IS SPRUNG
RED BANK: Spring 2024 arrives on the Greater Red Bank Green with the vernal equinox at 11:06 p.m. Tuesday.
RED BANK’S FINEST – AND NEWEST
Red Bank Police Officer Eliot Ramos was sworn in as the force’s newest patrolman Thursday, and if you’re doing a double take thinkin ...
EASTER EGG MAYHEM AT THE PARK
An errant whistle spurred an unexpectedly early start to the Spring Egg Hunt on Sunday, which had been scheduled to begin at eggsactly 11am ...
PRESEASON DOCKWORK
RED BANK: With winter winding down, marina gets ready for boating season with some dockwork on our beautiful Navesink River.