RED BANK: FOOD, AND MORE, IN CHURN

Ivan Lopez and friend outside the newly opened Toro Rojo Parrilla Mexicana on Shrewsbury Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Two food-based businesses departed Red Bank last month – one after 21 years, the other after just a few days.

But the shopping and dining scene also saw the quick revival of a vacant restaurant space, the opening of a new Pilates studio and more activity.

Read all about it in this edition of Retail Churn.

Marie Martino opened Flx Flo at 170 Monmouth Street. Below, the short-lived home of Lilla Vanilla, at 8B Monmouth.  (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

• Ivan Lopez has opened Toro Roja Parrilla Mexicana at 191-193 Shrewsbury Avenue.

The restaurant fills the vacancy left when Juanito’s Charcoal Grill departed the space mid-summer, without explanation. With the lease came a giant bull mascot, on which Lopez did a dazzling paint job.

Lopez, 41, tells Churn he “grew up” at El Meson, a Freehold restaurant owned by his brother, Joaquin, before traveling widely as a chef. He previously owned Casa Piquin, in Montclair, and two food trucks in Florida, among other ventures.

The Shrewsbury Avenue opportunity came about because building owner Juan Torres “is kind of like family,” having come from the same town in Guadalajara, Mexico, Lopez said.

As Toro Roja’s owner, Lopez is cooking six days a week while he trains kitchen staff. Among his specialties, he said, is a quesabirria. “We’ve been getting a lot of compliments on those,” he said.

• After nearly 14 years as a fitness instructor working for others, Union Beach resident Marie Martino has opened her first business, FLX FLO Pilates at 170 Monmouth Street, the five-story apartment building known as The Standard.

“I was just at a point in my career where I wanted to take it to the next level, to be more creative,” Martino told Churn earlier this month.

The studio is “strictly a reformer-based” studio, which Martino said, which utilizes spring-resistance equipment to isolate workouts on specific muscles.

• Smoothie King vacated 65 Broad Street last month after 21 years.

“Our franchise agreement has come to an end and we have decided to find a larger space with more accessible parking in order to better serve you,” a note posted on the front door said.

• This may be the Churniest Churn item we’ve ever posted: Lilla Vanilla, a cake shop, cleared out from 8B Monmouth Street just days after opening on September 10.

A partner in the business who identified herself only as Kelly told redbankgreen in a brief phone interview that the closing is “temporary.” She declined further comment. The original Lilla Vanilla shop in in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, is still operating.

According to landlord Mike Morgan, the business experienced some “internal strife” that the partners “are currently trying to work things out between themselves.”

Meantime, while the new equipment remains, all the inventory and signage has been removed from the small space, which was vacated when House of Fades barbershop relocated to 18 Monmouth in 2021.

“I have no earthly idea what happened,” Red Bank RiverCenter executive director Bob Zuckerman told redbankgreen. “In all my years working in downtown management I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

• Brianne Wickline has relocated her Feather & Line Hair Studio to 16 Wallace Street.

The salon previously operated in a building at the corner of Mechanic Street and Globe Court that’s slated to be demolished and replaced with a new 40-unit apartment building.

• Denholtz Properties recently announced it has signed Hydraderm Spa to a 1,970-square-foot lease at the Rail at Red Bank, on Bridge Avenue between Chestnut and Oakland Streets.

The beauty spa, which has a facility in Marlboro, is expected to open in early 2024, Denholtz said in a press release.

The signing means the 7,500 square feet of retail space at the Rail is fully leased, Denholtz said. Melonhead, a juice, smoothie and acai bowl shop, has been open there for the past year, and Filoncino Café, an Italian bakery and café and cosmetic dentist Todd Goldstein, DDS, both of are still in the process of build-out.

• The home of Patrizia’s restaurant, at 28 Broad Street, has been sold for $3 million.

According to the deed filed earlier this month, the buyer was Gino Savo, of Lincroft, and the seller was Rick Stavola of Middletown.

Stavola recently sold two other downtown buildings for $6.1 million, and has another, at 21-23 Broad, under contract for an undisclosed price, according to a Monmouth County filing.

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