Empty storefronts in Central Square are starting to fill up. On Saturday More Fun, an Asian notions store and cafe at 438 Massachusetts Ave., drew crowds for its opening. Meanwhile, a Japanese grocery emporium is hiring for a new store nearby.
At More Fun’s opening, “hundreds of people lined up,” said Michael Monestime, president of the Central Square Business Improvement District. “This is where you can go get your Labubus. You can go get stickers and notepads and all sorts of items like that. It’s also a soda bar. There are gaming machines inside. They’ve truly turned the space into a real place of joy and discovery.”
More Fun fills a space left vacant by The Station by Artifact Cider Project, a brewery taproom that closed in May 2023. It’s the company’s third store in the Boston area, after Chinatown and Newbury Street locations in Boston.
Across the street at 580 Massachusetts Ave., the former home of the Expressions sneaker store, a vinyl sign pasted over the storefront announced that the Hashi Market is “coming soon” and asked potential workers to send in résumés. Hashi is a sprawling purveyor of primarily Japanese groceries and goods. Hashi, a Brooklyn, New York-based grocery store chain, calls itself “North America’s first destination that blends a fresh food supermarket, curated minidepartment store and premium catering service all under one roof.”
The Central Square store will be its second in Massachusetts after one in Brookline. The company’s other locations are in New York, New Jersey and California.
Hashi Market will occupy the Expressions store and the basement space that had been home to the Artist & Craftsman Supply store, which closed in January 2023 after almost 20 years in business. The combined spaces will be almost 15,000 square feet.
“It’s going to be humongous. I mean, think of those two spaces,” said Monestime, who estimated it could take a year of construction and outfitting.
Hashi Market will give Central Square a double dose of Asian grocers, since it will be directly across the street from Korean grocer H Mart, at 581 Massachusetts Ave.
Hashi does not replace the abrupt loss of Daily Table, the square’s low-cost grocery store, in May. But Monestime said he and others are working to address that need as food insecurity grows in the area.
Hashi Market will, however, be a boon for local employment and in keeping Central Square thriving. “The fact that they have signs in the window is such a great beacon of hope for that corner,” Monestime said.
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Interesting. Hashi also appears to have a Coolidge Corner location “coming soon” as well, just a block away from 2 existing Japanese storefronts (Maruichi & Maruichi Select). And while HMart is primarily Korean, they do sell a fair amount of Japanese products.
Seems like a rather odd/combative expansion strategy on Hashi’s part, I’m surprised they didn’t go for Medford Square given Ebisuya was recently forced to close due to structural issues with the building they were in. Hopefully Hashi finds a way to complement the existing stores/their new neighbors rather than inviting mutual destruction…