Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Cigarettes are still sold at 20 stores.
Smokers have four fewer places to buy cigarettes in Reading: CVS, two Rite Aid stores and Walgreens. The Board of Health banned the sale of tobacco products at pharmacies and drug stores and other health care institutions, starting last month. The intent of the effort, funded by a state grant and initiated by the Reading Coalition Against Substance Abuse’s Youth Crew, is to reduce the use of tobacco products by youths, according to Tobacco Coordinator for the Mystic Valley Tobacco and Alcohol Program Maureen Buzby. Selling tobacco products at pharmacies doesn’t make sense Buzby, told Patch, because they are health care institutions. The ban, which took effect this past July 1, has drawn mixed responses. “It’s ridiculous” -- a pain in the …
Friday, June 29, 2012
To improve the look of storefronts in the downtown Reading business area.
May Mu attended a meeting last month to look at ways to improve the face of her building at 636 Main St., in the heart of the downtown, which houses Family Dental. She talked about adding windows to the second story. Mu has owned a business in Reading for 31 years, she told Patch then. She and five other business or property owners have received grants under the local Building Façade and Signage Improvement Program that will change the look of six properties in the downtown area. Mu received $5,000 for façade work. On Haven Street, three businesses and one property owner received grants: Matteo Gallo, owner of 75 Haven St., $1,500 for façade improvements; Atlantic Framing, 78 Haven, up to $1,000, for an awning; William Crowley, an …
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Melanie Murphy offers accents, upholstery, window coverings, customized furniture and design services.
Hidden behind the buildings on lower Haven Street is a store that feels like several rooms of a home. The walls are covered with eclectic art, from mirrors to paintings to prints to shadowboxes. Lamps of different styles, many with pattered shades, light the “rooms.” Colorful pillows sit on chairs and display pieces and on an 84-inch white sofa, a sample of the store’s customized furniture. A second front-of-a-house façade inside the store, with a real door and window, opens into a totally different but related part of the business: samples of swatches of fabric for upholstery and window coverings and the work table of the seamstress who custom-crafts them. Welcome to RBM Interiors at 10 Brande Court. Melanie Murphy opened the store just …
Friday, April 13, 2012
The ballet school expects to move in in June, but no summer classes here.
A ballet school is one toe shoe closer to opening in the former Christian Science Church on Lowell Street but delays along the way mean the school will be renting space elsewhere for summer classes. Town staff arrived at a solution to the issue of required parking, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner told the selectmen Tuesday. The Northeast Youth Ballet will be allowed to install four parking spaces on the property, off the existing driveway. The parking spaces may be covered in stone dust, and not paved, Hechenbleikner said. The school owner, Ralph Cecere, hopes to complete exterior and interior work and move in to the space sometime in June, he told Patch. But uncertainty over that timeline and delays in getting required approvals and …
Monday, April 9, 2012
Construction continues on street-level retail space; finish work on residential space.
Based on what you see when you drive or walk past 30 Haven St., would you expect the space to be move-in ready in roughly two months? On the ground level, you can see through what will become retail space between Haven Street and the Brande Court parking lot behind the building. The space, which is open to the street and parking lot now, hasn’t yet been partitioned for business tenants yet. Apartments on the upper levels, floors two through four, have a totally different feel. All 53 of them are completely weather-tight, with interior walls dividing the rooms. Some have kitchen cabinets and countertops. The target date for the building to open: June 1, according to Oaktree Construction, LLC Senior Project Manager Erwin “Skip” Rose. The …
Friday, March 30, 2012
Chamber member William Crowley was also awarded.
Richard Harris misses the job he retired from just under a year ago, after almost 34 years. Harris was one of four public service employees, two each from North Reading and Reading, that the Reading-North Reading Chamber of Commerce recognized Wednesday night. Harris retired, in April, 2011, as North Reading’s fire chief. The chamber also recognized North Reading Police Detective Thomas Encarnacao; Reading Police Detective Michael Saunders; and Reading Fire Captain Peter Marchetti. One theme wove itself into their awards: the importance of family support. Harris started on the North Reading Fire Department on Nov. 26, 1977. He was promoted to acting captain in June, 1998; captain in October of 2001; acting deputy chief in April, 2005; …
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Ralph Cecere is unable to open the Northeast Youth Ballet in the former Christian Science Church due to issues with parking.
The owner of a ballet school who wants to relocate to Reading appealed to the Board of Selectmen Tuesday night to help smooth his steps. Ralph Cecere told Board of Selectmen Chairman Stephen Goldy, by letter dated March 22, that trying to open the Northeast Youth Ballet in the former Christian Science Church on Lowell Street at Sanborn Street has been “disappointing and frustrating.” The Ceceres – Ralph and his wife, Denise, the ballet‘s artistic director -- bought the property this summer, Cecere told the selectmen. They tried to “accommodate town officials” over regulatory issues, Cecere explained to the board. The Zoning Board of Appeals granted the school a variance for parking this month; the board is requiring four parking spaces on…
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Give thumbs up to new building, space, parking.
“Wow.” CiCi Bennett of Reading and Kim Albushies of Wakefield said just that yesterday when they walked through the door of the new Calareso’s farm stand and garden center. Linda Wilkins of Reading said the same word came to mind when she entered the new building. Shoppers poured in to the new Calareso's, which opened to the public yesterday. Their evaluation, based on interviews with eight customers at random just before noon: a thumbs up or a high high five or, literally, a “wow.” Those shoppers commented on the size of the new building, the convenient width of the shopping aisles, the parking and the driveway access to the store. All had shopped at Calareso’s original farm stand, now closed, a block north on Main Street. The new …
42.50648
-71.10366
Calareso's Farm Stand and Garden Center
100 Main St, Reading, MA
/articles/customers-flock-to-calareso-s-at-new-location
193932
/locations/6582361
Monday, March 12, 2012
The business will reopen in a much larger facility a block south of where the Reading business started 60 years ago.
Twice the indoor shopping space. Double the outside, covered space for plants and garden supplies. Ditto the number of parking spaces. More check-out lanes, too. The new Calareso’s farm stand and garden center a block down Main Street in Reading from where the business started 60 years ago is being readied for its opening tomorrow. “We’ve been looking for a (bigger) place for 10 years,” Manager Joseph “Joey” Musgrave told Patch Friday afternoon as a crew continued to prepare the buildings for customers, “because we outgrew our space” up the street. The new space at 100 Main St. will give customers more product variety, better displays and easier movement, Musgrave said, both in the aisles and driving into and out of the parking lot. A …
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Business owners are encouraged to claim listings in Patch Places to better promote their business and inform North Reading readers.
When North Reading Patch launched, editors and freelancers ventured to local businesses in order to collect information for our directory. Now, Patch places is a spot where users can find descriptions, hours, accepted payment methods, and much more for spots around town. All users can add events taking place at local spots, can rate the business on a scale of one to five stars, and can add a review. But owners of local businesses get extra bonuses when they claim a listing. Owners or managers should search for their business listing and select "claim you listing" in order to make updates to the page. A form will pop up asking for your name, contact information, and proof of ownership. Within a few days, someone from Patch should contact …
A. Horch
7:02 am on Saturday, August 18, 2012
Isn't it ironic that they are being banned from selling a product that might shorten life, but employees are forced to sell a product that will prevent or end life???? more ›