Downtown Needham will be losing a pioneering restaurant but gaining a novel bank/pop-up retail operation after Newton-based Village Bank takes over the expiring lease held by Masala Art at 990 Great Plain Ave.
Village Bank reps said they will provide Masala Art owners the time they require to wind down the restaurant, which brought Indian cuisine to Needham in 2003 at the former site of the Hit or Miss retail store.
The bank has an early 2027 target date to begin the build-out for a new use that will be both a Village Bank branch and the first of what is planned to be a series of pop-up retail shops. The retail operators will occupy 850 of the site’s 4,000+ square feet and the plan is for brands to rotate on four-to-six month intervals.
It would be the second iteration of what the bank’s collaborator, Allison Yee of the retail consultancy UpNext, calls a “first of its kind” concept of locating an independent retail shop inside a bank branch office.
The first bank/retail space is expected to be rolled out in Wellesley some time after Labor Day at a new Village Bank branch. It will be at the former site of Wellesley’s iconic E.A. Davis & Co. clothing store at 579 Washington St. in Wellesley Square. Its debut pop-up retailer will be Piper&Cloth, a children’s clothing brand.
“It’s a really amazing natural partnership,” Yee said of her collaboration with the bank. “To the best of my knowledge, it hasn’t been done before, and especially not around here.”
Yee and Village Bank marketing officer Chris Letourneau devised the plan and both indicated they are acutely aware that there may initially be limited enthusiasm for what is estimated to be Needham’s 18th bank branch office.
“We very much heard the ‘Another bank? Oh no!’ comments in Wellesley,” Letourneau said. “But when we came out with the news of the retail space inside, we received a very positive reaction.”
“I think they are graciously eyes wide open to that,” Yee said of the bank’s awareness of Needham’s overbanked status. “This is re-inventing the model. It’s changing how people will experience it.”
Village Bank President and CEO Joseph De Vito said the bank was well aware of the need to signal added value, but also noted the bank operation has value as well.
“We still have a healthy amount of foot traffic coming into our locations, and we certainly think that the pop-up will also add to that,” he said.
“It (the pop-up) is another way to present ourselves and show support for the community, for local business and to add to the dynamic of the village and the community,” he said, adding that he thinks bank customers in Needham will also receive value.
“I do think that choice is a good thing — to have more choice rather than less choice for prospective customers and the community,” he said. “Every institution is different in how they deliver their service and the products and services that they have.”
Space was being marketed
Both De Vito and Amy Werner, the bank’s chief retail and marketing officer, said Village Bank has been seeking space in Needham for some time as part of a modest expansion that has seen the bank add locations in Wayland in addition to Wellesley.
De Vito said the bank has signed a 10-year lease with two options.
“This property came to our attention because it was available due to a tenant not renewing their lease,” Werner said.
She was optimistic about the venture’s prospects in Needham, noting that the pop-up location in Wellesley drew more than 40 applicants before the bank settled on Piper&Cloth to launch the program, which functions as a business incubator, not a typical tenant/sub-lessee arrangement.
The pop-up operator will not be required to pay rent or utilities and will receive guidance from Yee and the team at UpNext, which has an expertise in pop-up operations developed over more than decade of experience.
“They (Village Bank) were brainstorming ways to expand on the brand and enter new markets, including Needham. We came up with this concept to include an incubator, having been familiar with our work, a lot of which we’ve done in the local area,” Yee said of the origins of the plan.
“It was just a very easy, natural, organic conversation and evolution.”
Yee said the applicants are expected to be “local, independently owned, product-based brands with an ‘experience’ mindset.”
“In retail today, for people to get off the couch and decide to take their business into a storefront, into a local shop, you really have to create an experience.”
“Pop-up is really about bringing a low-risk, high-energy freshness to the area,” she said. “Testing it out, seeing if this is something that they want to continue doing in a brick and mortar space.”
Werner noted that, as an incubator, the bank hopes to be nurturing future Needham businesses.
“Our hope is by offering this incubator space for retailers is that they start off with us, realize that they need to be in Needham, and then rent an open storefront that might be available within the community,” she said.
As for Masala Art . . .
Vinod Kapoor, owner of Masala Art, declined to comment at this time, but indicated he would share information on his future plans at a later date.
John Sisson, the town’s economic development director, praised Kapoor and his role in helping establish Needham as a restaurant destination.
“I imagine many of us were disappointed to learn Masala Art would be winding down its run in Needham Center after Vinod and Shikha Kapoor brought Indian cuisine from Boston to this suburb some 23 years ago,” Sisson told the Observer. “People may not recall what a pioneering move that was.”
Sisson also commented on the mixed recent news emerging from the town’s downtown.
“The loss of this local institution, like the closure of Kosta’s Pizza & Seafood last month, naturally raises questions about foot traffic and the health of retail and personal service establishments in Needham Center,” he noted.
“When an active restaurant space is subsequently leased by a bank, those concerns may be amplified. However, with a new bookstore opening this fall at the corner of Great Plain and Chestnut, as well as potential new opportunities for other current vacancies in the downtown, people will have more reasons to visit Needham Center.”
Save as PDF