bottling plant. That was before the shopping center that is generating
all the angst was built, and before the apartments at the lights were
built. There were no lights there then, either.
But Nobscot was never a destination, unless you wanted to buy a turkey
or soda by the case.
The shopping center was built and did very well for quite a while.
Grocery stores were smaller then and serviced the neighborhoods in which
they were located. The mega stores of today did not exist and people
were willing to pay a little more for their neighborhood groceries
because the few lower priced alternatives were widely scattered. I
sometimes walked to the grocery store and back for just a few things,
and got some exercise in the bargain.
All of that has changed now. The commercial market for goods and
services is altogether different than it was in the sixties when Nobscot
was a mostly residential neighborhood ( with turkeys and soda pop ). But
the commercial forces that caused the shopping center to be built are
the same commercial forces that cause it to be vacant now. It is
commercial forces that drive these property decisions so if you think
that it doesn't make sense for the property owner to have the property
vacant, it just means that he knows something that you don't.
The wishes and desires of the residents don't count. You should have
shopped there when the market was open. If you didn't, kwichyerbicchin.
If you didn't vote with your dollars then, you don't get to vote with
your whining now.
The town will send representatives to meetings and they will murmur
platitudes but there is very little that the town can do. And anything
they try to do that annoys the property owner past a certain point will
trigger a lawsuit which will cost the taxpayers more money.
How would you like it if the town where you work started telling the
business that you work for how to run their business? Fortunately,
America doesn't work that way. Yet.
Unless maybe you work in Cambridge.
In any case, it was, is, and always will be, the almighty dollar that
will determine what will occupy that property on the corner. If you
think you know a business that might be successful in some of that
space, contact that business and ask them to look at the demographics
and the property and to contact the rental agency if they are interested.
I have done that, a couple of times. No takers. Whatever delusions of
grandeur some of us may have, Nobscot is not a destination, and it is
not a neighborhood where the income of the average resident is rising.
It is primarily a place that people pass through on their way to
somewhere else. Pretty much always has been. Get used to it.
But instead of wringing our hands and fussing, we should be working at
finding, and contacting, businesses that might be able to use the space
and that would be a destination business. Nobody is going to come to
Nobscot for a nail salon or a Thai food joint, but there must be
something that people would travel for. What business would you be
willing to go to Needham for? If you think of something, write to them
and invite them to open up a store in Nobscot.
George Marold