Customers at the community knitting table at Chelsea Yarns, which opened on Mechanic Street two weeks ago. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A retail business moving into Red Bank from out of town. An existing business rebranding itself. Another one moving a few doors away. And a fourth calling it quits.
You might say this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn has it all, churnwise.
Owner Christina Lundborg relocated Chelsea Yarns to the new location from Colts Neck. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
• Chelsea Yarns, a knitting supply store Christina Lundborg launched five years ago in a Colts Neck Strip mall, has relocated to 25 Mechanic Street in Red Bank.
“Our lease was up, and we just decided, ‘let’s make a change,'” Lundborg told Retail Churn last week. She lives nearby, in Middletown; her son is now about to graduate high school; and she yearned to be in the heart of a community, Lundborg said.
When she found the former dance studio space just steps from the east side parking lots, “I said, ‘this is it,'” Lundborg said.
She had no real worries about alienating her customer base, she said.
“A yarn shop is a destination,” Lundborg said. The day she opened here, “I had a group of ladies drive up from Toms River, just as they did when we were in Colts Neck. But what was nice was that after they were done knitting, they said, ‘we’re going to lunch, we’re going shopping.'”
Reminiscent of Wooly Monmouth, a Monmouth Street knitting store that closed three years ago, Chelsea Yarns’ large retail space features a community knitting table that anyone with a pair of needles can grab a seat at, and the store stays open until 9 p.m. Thursdays for an “open knit.”
• The Doc Shoppe, at 43 Broad Street, which announced its plan to close three months ago, will instead transition from shoes to sneakers, and will be rebranded as Red Sole in coming weeks.
Keith Glass, a well-known professional sports agent, will own the business with his sons, Tyler and Luke. Glass was a partner in the Doc Shoppe with founder Dean Ross, who’s retired from the business.
The store remains open, winding down its shoe inventory. Meanwhile, “the new sneakers are coming in daily,” said Glass.
• JMD Jewelry, a custom jewelry shop, has relocated from 32 White Street just a few steps west to 64 White Street, last occupied by Café 28, which closed last month.
The shop is the third location in town — all of them, in fact, on White Street — for the 11-year-old business owned by Joel and Jennifer McFadden. They started out at 11 White Street.
No word yet on who’s taking the space JMD vacated.
• Runa, a three-year-old Peruvian restaurant on Monmouth Street opposite the Count Basie Theatre, will close at the end of April, owner Marita Lynn tells Churn.
Though the eatery has been closed for the past two weeks, Lynn said she plans to hold final seatings this weekend and next before shutting off the lights on April 29.
That won’t be the end of Runa, however, said Lynn, who plans to “take some time to reinvent and see what’s next,” with the possibility of reopening in a new location.
Meantime, she plans to continue operating a food truck that has been a presence at a truck court in Asbury Park over the past two summers, though whether it will be there is also uncertain, she said.
