Anne Hamilton of All Things Local chats last week with Susan Folta, of the Monmouth County Economic Development office’s Made in Monmouth program. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Not one but two craft shops, both featuring the work of local artisans, plan to open in downtown Red Bank this weekend.
Also in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn: a seven-day-a week Mexican restaurant with loco hours opens for business, and a chain sub shop unplugs the meat slicer after just a year in town.
Kristin Stahl outside her new shop, the Local Line, on Wallace Street. Below, the freshly opened Azteca Grill, across Monmouth Street from the Count Basie Theatre. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
• Anne Hamilton, a globe-trotting native of South Africa (“I’m the only thing in here that’s not made in America,” she said) plans to open a gift store called All Things Local Sunday at 11 Globe Court, an easy-to-overlook space tucked in behind the Globe Hotel bar and New Corner Pizza.
The Wall Street refugee said the need for such a business hit her when she had to buy someone a gift, but found that because of her work schedule, she was pretty much limited to dashing off to the mall and picking up something not very personal. She imagined it not getting much more attention than she gave the purchase.
“As a society, we’ve reached the point where we have more than we need,” she said. She hopes that her shop’s well-made items will help break that cycle and directly reward creativity and craftsmanship occurring locally.
With the backing of business partner and building landlord David Baker, All Things Local will serve as a showcase and consignment shop for gift items made by Monmouth County craftspeople, she said. Included on the shelves are three-D printed vases by Douglas Winning, an 18-year-old Monmouth University student and entrepreneur. And gift-wrapping is free, she said.
Eventually, Hamilton said she’s hoping to expand the shop into vacant space next door, complete with a coffee shop.
Meantime, she plans to have Johnny’s Pork Roll truck and the Deez Donutz truck at her shop’s opening, parked on private property so as not to violate the borough’s touchy rules on food trucks.
• Also opening Sunday, just a block away at 16 Wallace Street, is Kristen Stahl’s shop, the Local Line.
An event planner who worked as a catering manager at the Intrepid Museum in Manhattan, the Middletown native envisions the shop as a place where New Jersey woodworkers, candlemakers and other artisans can show off and sell their wares. They’ll also be able to host workshops for small groups in a back room, she tells Churn.
Many of the items, Stahl expects, will pair well with events such as weddings and other celebrations as table decor, for example, and she’s developing a wedding-planning aspect to the Local Line toward that end, she said.
“But the store is the main focus,” she tells Churn. “I just want to be able to showcase these products.”
• Azteca Grill has opened at 110 Monmouth Street. Partners Max Olivera and Alberto Bautista have long experience working as cooks in kitchens on the Greater Red Bank Green, and both put in time at the Americana Diner in Shrewsbury.
It’ll come in handy. The first-time business owners plan to operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from 7 a.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays.
The pair took over over the space last used by Runa, a Peruvian restaurant, and for many years before that, the Eurasian Eatery, in a building recently acquired by their next-door neighbor, butcher Stew Goldstein of Monmouth Meats.
• Jimmy John’s, at 21 West Front Street, which opened just a year ago, has closed for business.
The frequently empty sub shop, co-owned by Gaslight Anthem bassist Alex Levine, leaves a vacancy at at space that was empty for four years following the 2012 death of Wayne’s Market owner Wayne Fisler.
• Churn is awaiting news on what’s coming to the space last held by the Belmonte at 3 Broad Street. An entity called Red Liquor Enterprises LLC recently acquired the license for the closed restaurant for an undisclosed price.
Belmonte partner Dan Lynch and building owner tells Churn the new operator plans to make its own announcement.
