At 59 Central St., in the space that used to be the Wellesley Toy Shop, Bridgewater Chocolate sells chocolate turkeys priced from about $10 to $230. Around the corner on Washington Street, a few storefronts in the Taylor Block are covered in brown paper with "for lease" signs taped up.
Both streets are changing this season, on very different timetables. The new businesses coming into Wellesley Square are taking over one room at a time, in spaces that long-running shops gave up. The Square's largest block and the streets themselves run on schedules measured in years. The next public step on the street design falls on December 10, four days after the Holiday Stroll fills those same sidewalks.
Central and Church Streets are filling one room at a time
Bridgewater Chocolate opened at the end of October. Its owners, Erik Landegren and Andrew Blauner, run two Connecticut storefronts in Westport and West Hartford plus a factory store, and the Wellesley shop is their only current store outside that state. Store manager Vanessa Brandt told The Swellesley Report that Thanksgiving products were on the way: "chocolate turkey centerpieces, various assortment boxes topped with a ribbon, and more."
Several other newcomers arrived this fall:
- Rani Mahal, 27 Grove St., serves Indian and Nepali food and was already open by late September.
- Clarendon Fine Art opened its first exhibition during the Discover Wellesley weekend on October 3.
- Piper&Cloth runs a pop-up at The Village Shop inside The Village Bank, 579 Washington St., scheduled to stay through the holiday season.
Other single-space projects have been announced. The Bra Shop announced a November opening at 22 Church St. in Church Square. Solidcore has been planned for 51B Church St., and Degree Wellness, which offers infrared sauna and cold plunge, for 51 Church St. Together they make up what The Swellesley Report called a "fitness vs. pastries arms race". On the pastry side, SALT Patisserie announced a café at 68A Central St. this summer.
One planned arrival has stalled. Wonder, the virtual food hall chain, filed in July for a building permit at 56 Central St. Last month it withdrew its sign and minor-construction applications, and Orangetheory, the current tenant at that address, has told members that Wonder is not coming. The Swellesley Report has the details.
All of these are one-storefront decisions by operators who can sign a lease and open within a season. That is how the Square has been refreshing itself this fall. The next stretch of Washington Street works differently.
The Taylor Block is on a five-year clock
The Taylor Block is a mixed-use stretch at 540–568 Washington St., at the Grove Street corner. Jumbo Capital bought it from the Sullivan family for a reported $15.25 million. As of mid-October, the block looked like this:
- Still open: Rice Burg, Old School Pizzeria, Tutto Italiano and others
- Gone: Comina, the home decor shop that closed after 32 years, and Panoply
- On the market: several vacant storefronts behind brown paper and lease signs
At the September 29 All Board Meeting, Wellesley Executive Director Meghan Jop said Jumbo is unlikely to do much with the Taylor Block for five years, as The Swellesley Report recounted. The company's attention is on 888 Worcester St., where it has proposed a senior living complex. At the Planning Board's November 2 meeting, members described talks with Jumbo and its partner, Life Care Services, about how that proposal might go to Annual Town Meeting in the spring.
Under a long hold, tenants get added one at a time, just as they are on Central Street. The first sign of that is at 566 Washington St., the old Comina space. Wellesley Jiujitsu has filed to open a martial arts studio there in more than 3,000 square feet, next door to Tutto Italiano. Classes will cover Brazilian jiu-jitsu, kickboxing and wrestling for kids and adults. Co-owner Paul Rosado told The Swellesley Report the studio is aiming for December.
So the corner of Washington and Grove is likely to look much as it does now, with new tenants moving in one by one, while the street in front of it is redesigned.
The street is being redrawn this winter
The Wellesley Square Improvement Project is the Town's plan to rework how the Square works at street level. It covers Central and Washington Streets from Weston Road to Wellesley Avenue and Route 135, all of Church Street, Grove Street from the Post Office to about 51 Grove, and parts of Weston and Crest Roads up to the railroad bridges. Every storefront named above sits inside that boundary.
The Town's project StoryMap lists the goals as pedestrian safety, better traffic flow at the key intersections, more parking for visitors and merchants, new gathering spaces, updated lighting, benches, meters and crosswalks, upgrades to aging infrastructure, and a closer tie between Central Street, Church Street and the Grove Street businesses. The project is in its second stage, "Refinement and Consensus Building," which runs from mid-October to early December.
The Town has published this schedule:
- December 10, 2026, 7 p.m., Hunnewell School: refined design alternatives and technical performance outcomes
- Late January 2027: presentation of the preferred design concept
- Spring 2027: final design and next steps
- Town Meeting, 2027/2028: the construction funding request
The first public session, on October 14, drew 30-plus people. The Swellesley Report observed that town staff and consultants made up a large share of the room. The December meeting is when the options get narrowed down. By late January, the Square will have a preferred concept.
Four days in December
The Holiday Stroll and Scavenger Hunt is on Sunday, December 6, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the Wellesley Square Merchants' Association posts updates on its event page. Players visit participating stores, find the snowflake sign each one displays, and get their card stamped or initialed. The Swellesley Report's holiday roundup says the day includes carolers, entertainers and the Town tree lighting.
The scavenger hunt leads people door to door along the same Central, Church and Grove Street blocks the improvement project is redesigning. On December 10, the refined alternatives for those blocks go on display at Hunnewell School. For anyone with views on crosswalks, parking or where a bench belongs, the stroll is a good chance to look at the Square before that meeting.
Here is the rest of the season in order:
- Saturday, Nov. 21, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., 9 a.m. for VIP ticket holders: Wellesley Marketplace at Wellesley High School, 50 Rice St., with 200-plus local vendors. All proceeds go to community scholarships and grants.
- Thursday, Nov. 26, 8 a.m.: the Wellesley Turkey Trot 5K leaves Linden Square, runs through Wellesley Square and the Wellesley College campus, and comes back. The kids' fun run starts at 8:45 a.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, 2 p.m.: the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra holiday concert and sing-along at MassBay Community College, 50 Oakland St.
- Sunday, Dec. 6, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.: the Holiday Stroll and Scavenger Hunt in Wellesley Square. The Wellesley Town Band's free winter concert is at 3 p.m. at 50 Rice St.
- Thursday, Dec. 10, 7 p.m.: refined design alternatives for the Wellesley Square Improvement Project at Hunnewell School.
I served more than 15 years on the Brookline Preservation Commission, and I've seen how much a streetscape plan settles about a commercial block long before construction starts. If you'd like to talk through how the Wellesley Square options could affect the blocks around your home, or just compare notes after the December 10 meeting, Sheri Flagler is glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.
