RED BANK: BROAD STREET CHURNS AS BIZZES COME AND GO

The Maneki-neko inside the very much open Spice Thai Bistro restaurant might want to go all feral alley-cat on the person who posted misinformation to Facebook that the eatery was closed indefinitely. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)

By BRIAN DONOHUE

One of the most prominent storefronts on Broad Street is about to get gussied up with a new national chain retailer tenant after sitting empty for five years while a gift shop right across the street packs it in, the store next to that flips to a new tenant and a bubble tea shop is opening a few doors down.

Oh, and around the corner on Monmouth Street, that Thai restaurant reported to be closing on a local Facebook group page? They are very much open.

Read about what’s churning – and what’s been falsely reported to be churning – in the latest, fact-checked (as always) edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn. 

• Patricia AmecAngelo, executive vice president at RIPCO Real Estate, who represents the iconic clothing retailer Brooks Brothers, confirmed to redbankgreen that the retailer has signed a lease for the long-vacant former Chase Bank location at 32-34 Broad Street. The move was first reported in the Asbury Park Press.

Brooks Brothers used to have a location at the Grove in Shrewsbury but closed it down in January 2024. 

The Chase Bank location closed during the pandemic lockdown in 2020 and never re-opened its doors. The space has stood as a gaping vacancy in the heart of the downtown ever since. 

From 1961 to 2003, the space was home to Prown’s, a longtime five-and-dime that became a home improvement shop and now operates out of Middletown.

• Almost directly across the street at 35 Broad Street, Washington General Store, (which our history nerd brain always thought should have been named the General Washington store after the father of our country) is packing up its Red Bank headquarters after a two-and-a-half year engagement. The gift store’s lease was up and owners apparently decided to retreat to a position along the Palisades by focusing on their original Hoboken location. 

• Right next door to Washington General, the space at 37 Broad Street vacated at the end of 2024 when Kochut moved to an internet sales model for its wood and resin creations, looks like it has a new tenant coming in. A new sign reading “My Soho Design” has been put up over the past few weeks with signs of interior work visible. The company’s website indicates it is a kitchen and bathroom remodeling outfit based in Springfield Township. 

• The future home of Leonardo Jewelers inside the Whitfield Building 73 Broad Street has been an absolute beehive of activity lately with workers setting up counters and painting walls and giving us the “can’t you see we’re busy” look when we stuck our heads in the door. The family-owned business has been at 35 East Front Street for three decades and told redbankgreen last March they had hoped to open by October 2024. Perhaps that’s why the work seemed so intense. At any rate, the place looks nearly ready to open and bring new life to the 1910 building at the town’s main juncture  of  Broad  and  Monmouth  Streets.

• Just a few doors down at 65 Broad Street, the space vacated when Smoothie King moved out in 2023 appears to be the future home of Kori Kori, which the sign says will sell bubble teas and desserts. The owner said in a text message they will also sell smoothies, waffles and fried snacks. 

• Moving over to Monmouth Street, the eatery Spice Thai Bistro at 17 Monmouth Street (pictured below) is very much open, despite what was reported on a popular Red Bank Facebook group page that said the eatery was “closed indefinitely.” Even when that post was made, there was a handwritten sign on the door saying they were closed for a week and would re-open on March 7 with the same info on their outgoing voicemail.  The clearly irked owner, Eddie Neammanee, told redbankgreen the family owners had closed down for a short vacation. “We were in Thailand,” he said. 

  

• In the vacant storefront one door east from Spice Thai at 19 Monmouth Street, longtime Belmar business owner Michelle Fontanez tells us she is about to open Surf’s Up Coffee and Candles. The shop will sell specialty coffees and candles she manufactures herself. Surf’s Up Candle operated a retail shop in Belmar for nine years and Fontanez has been making the candles for about thirteen years. She’s planning to light it up on March 22 with a deejay-hosted grand opening.
• We typically focus strictly on the churn within the borders of Red Bank, but this item concerns a property that lies smack on the town border at a spot most Red Bankers pass on the regular.  A car wash is planning a location on the southwest corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Newman Springs Road, where a former Burger King and another building with a rotating cast of tenants (most recently Evolve gym) has resided in recent years. The move was also first reported in the Asbury Park Press. We were a little disappointed by the news, however, as we thought that intersection could really use a gas station.

redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at  [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.