RED BANK: LATIN-FLAVORED CAFÉ OPENS
Their plans disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis, a longtime Red Bank-area chef and his two sons have opened a restaurant in the Galleria complex on Bridge Avenue. Read More
RED BANK: FOOD TRUCK EYES VACANT SITE
A food truck called Your Sister’s Balls hopes to set up “a few days a week” on a Shrewsbury Avenue lot. (Nicole Montecalvo photo. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Less than a year after the latest effort to remove Red Bank’s ban on food trucks got a flat tire, the issue is back.
Leading the charge: a food truck called Your Sister’s Balls.
RED BANK: NEARLY NEW CALLS IT QUITS
After 27 years in business, Janice Brown has closed the Nearly Newly clothing store on Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After a career as a Pan Am stewardess, Janice Brown found her second act in 1993 as a Red Bank retailer, selling stylish vintage clothing.
But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown has decided to close the shop.
Read all about the end of the Nearly New Shop and other changes downtown in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: RETAIL DAMAGE, BUT HOPE, TOO
Alex Montaperto in Forge, her English Plaza shop, which hasn’t opened though it’s been ready for nine weeks. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
With the dust settling from one of the worst economic blows in American history, the damage to Red Bank’s retail scene is starting to come into focus.
Business shutterings and aborted lease deals are on the rise – no surprise – but there are also a few glimmers of optimism.
Read all about some of the changes downtown in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: TWO FALL FESTIVALS? MAYBE…
The annual Guinness Oyster Fest in September could be followed just three weeks later by the International Beer, Wine & Food Fest, usually held in April. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
With a calendar decimated by the COVID-19 crisis, Red Bank appears to be in for an unusually quiet summer.
But as summer edges into autumn, two of the town’s largest annual food festivals could occur within three weeks of one another, redbankgreen has learned.
Here’s a lookahead at the pandemic’s impacts on the summer calendar.
RED BANK: MORE EATERIES BACK FOR TAKEOUT
Ginny and Bob Koehler have reopened the Inbetween Café in Red Bank for takeout breakfast and lunch.
The English Plaza eatery is among a recent wave of borough restaurants stirring back to life, while many others have continued to serve hungry, stuck-at-home area residents and first responders throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
RED BANK: GOOD EATING AND SHARING
Leandro Batista, co-owner of Paradiddle Griddle on West Front Street in Red Bank, awaits customers picking up orders last week.
Here’s some updated information about restaurant operations in town, as well as a way to help feed healthcare workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: RIVERCENTER TAPS KIRKPATRICK
Laura Kirkpatrick addressing the Red Bank council Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Laura Kirkpatrick has been named executive director of Red Bank RiverCenter, the semi-autonomous agency that manages the borough’s special improvement district.
RED BANK: BRAKES TAPPED ON METERING PLAN
RiverCenter asked that enforcement of any changes to the parking ordinance be postponed until completion of planned streetscape work on White Street and the adjoining lot. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Facing pushback, Red Bank officials on Wednesday slowed a proposal to extend paid parking to 10 p.m.
The plan, first reported by redbankgreen, drew numerous critical comments on Facebook, which several council members alluded to at Wednesday night’s council workshop session.
RED BANK: EXTENDED METERING ON AGENDA
Adding four hours a day of paid parking is among the recommendations of a recent report. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s elected officials are expected to take up a proposal this week to expand paid parking – and enforcement – to 10 p.m.
RED BANK: HOMEWARES SHOP MOVES RIGHT IN
City Barn/Country Penthouse has opened for business at 19 Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Commercial real estate deals rarely happen as quickly as the one that led to Friday’s opening of a new homewares store in downtown Red Bank.
Read all about here in redbankgreen‘s latest edition of Retail Churn.
RED BANK: CLASSIC 5K SET FOR JUNE 20
The 2020 Red Bank Classic kicks off at 8 a.m. on June 20 in downtown Red Bank. (John Vitollo)
The third annual Red Bank Classic 5K will return to downtown Red Bank on Saturday, June 20 to raise support for youth development programs at the borough’s Department of Parks and Recreation and Red Bank Family YMCA.
RED BANK: HOBBYMASTERS CLOSING
Hobbymasters, a gamers’ paradise for four decades in downtown Red Bank, is calling it quits.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: BRUNCH, AND MORE, IN CHURN
Brunch opened last week at 20 Broad Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Eaters have a fresh new option for breakfast and lunch in downtown Red Bank.
Read all about chef Ray Tutella’s venture and other business comings and goings in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: CHURNING OUT A THIRD VENTURE
Erica Lieberman and Nick Napoletano in their third Monmouth Street restaurant, called Toss’d. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
What’s the secret to surviving as owners in Red Bank’s crowded dining market?
In this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn, a pair of accidental restaurateurs share some insights as they prepare to launch their third concurrent venture in the heart of downtown.
RED BANK: SCAVONE TO LEAVE RIVERCENTER
Jim Scavone, left, with Mayor Pasquale Menna and Visitors Center director Margaret Mass at the opening of RiverCenter’s offices on Broad Street in October, 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Jim Scavone, who led Red Bank RiverCenter for the past six years, is leaving the downtown promotion organization.
He won’t be going far, though: he’s taking a job at Hackensack Meridian Health at Riverview Medical Center, just on the edge of special improvement district he managed.
RED BANK: GETTING READY FIR LIGHT-UP
Red Bank’s official Christmas tree has arrived in Riverside Gardens Park and will soon be trimmed in ornaments and lights.
RED BANK: DISCOUNT-HUNTING VIA DRONE
Thomas Register pilots a mini drone over a facsimile of Red Bank at Chopper Shopper. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A new business that combines gaming and retail promotion has flown into downtown Red Bank.
This edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn has the eye-in-sky scoop.
RED BANK: COFFEE AND CORDUROY IN CHURN
Now open at 19 East Front Street: Currant, a “coffee bar and general store.” (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Coffee and corduroy shirts, with a side of hair conditioner? As of this week, Red Bank has a new shop with an unusual business model.
Read all about it, plus some additional comings and goings, in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: RESTAURANTS IN CHURN
Isabel Cortes in her newly rebranded restaurant, the Paradiddle Griddle, formerly Hansel ‘n Griddle. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank restaurant has reopened with all-new branding after a four-month interval, while two others have closed in recent days.
Read all about them in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: TACOS & SUSHI SLIDE INTO TOWN
Yumi, at 9 Broad Street, hopes to replicate the success it’s had in Sea Bright. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Foodies have two new dining-out options in downtown Red Bank, with the openings last week of taco and sushi restaurants.
Read all about them in this quick-read edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: TENTH OYSTERFEST ROCKS THE LOT
Sunshine and feels-like temperatures around 80 degrees put thousands of visitors in a dancing, eating and drinking mood at the 10th annual Guinness Oyster Festival in Red Bank Sunday.
This year’s event, held as always in the White Street parking lot, raised funds for three Red Bank-based benefactors: Monmouth Day Care Center, T. Thomas Fortune House, and Red Bank RiverCenter, the event sponsor.
Were you there? Look for yourself and your friends in redbankgreen‘s photos. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
RED BANK: SUNNY STRETCH TO CONTINUE
The mild, sunny weather that’s ushered autumn 2019 onto the Greater Red Bank Green will continue through the coming weekend and well into next week, according to the National Weather Service.
That sets the stage for one of Red Bank’s biggest festivals, the Guinness Oysterfest, which gets its tenth annual staging Sunday. Temperatures are expected to peak in the mid-70s when headliners Almost U2 and The Weeklings take the stages at the opposite ends of the municipal parking lot.
Check out the extended forecast below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.) Read More
RED BANK: FLOWERS & PHONES IN, PIZZA OUT
Abby Lawal outside Supreme Floral, which she opened with her husband in August. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Downtown Red Bank has added a new flower shop and lost a longtime restaurant, while another plans to expand.
Read all about them, plus a phone store that’s cloning itself, in this summer-closing edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: PARKING SYSTEM TO GET MAKEOVER
Interim parking director Tom Calu with a smart meter at Wednesday’s presentation. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s entire inventory of parking meters and kiosks is slated for replacement, borough officials said Wednesday, as they debuted a ‘smart’ meter scheduled for rollout curbside early next year.
Meantime, the search for a parking director, the foremost recommendation of a parking study released in January, has been “disappointing,” the official leading the search told redbankgreen.