Creating Community with a Vacant Storefront

Creating Community at 592 Tremont Street

592 Tremont Street had the pleasure of hosting House of Siam’s Tremont street location for twelve and a half years. Joe, the former owner, was beloved amongst the community and known for his unconditional generosity. Just the other day, we heard a story from one of our neighbors about how Joe brought him chicken noodle soup every day while he was recovering from surgery. He knew all of his customers and his personalized service was a defining characteristic of the restaurant. His presence warmed our corner of Tremont Street and we miss him dearly. A year after his passing, The House of Siam team has closed their location on Tremont Street but will remain open at their location on 542 Columbus Ave, Boston, MA 02118.

Ever since Laura bought our brownstone with the commitment to repurpose as much original historical features as possible, it is engrained in The Upton to view possibilities with a different lens.

We are constantly challenging each other to think creatively about repurposing. Our initial thought was to make the restaurant exterior joyful and uplifting in Joe’s honor, as well as help inform our neighborhood about our short-term furnished apartments. Then, we challenged each other to think about how we can use the restaurant windows to be a resource. With a goal of honoring Joe’s commitment to the community and supporting small businesses, we will be using the property windows to amplify the voices of local small businesses, as well as our own. They may just be windows, but we see them as a gateway to discovery and a way to support our community.

As a furnished apartment building with no storefront (typically), we have turned the front door of 592 Tremont Street into a directory of local small businesses without storefronts. Exposure is key for every business and when we saw how many people were looking into the restaurant windows, we identified an opportunity to help others in our same position. We want the front door to become a resource for our neighbors. We are also striving to feature the small businesses products in our front window.

One of our inspirations for this project is a local small business, Wyllo. This store exclusively sells work by female small business owners, many of whom are artists. We asked Wyllo if they wanted to create a display in a block of windows.

Things will look a little different at 592 Tremont Street in the coming weeks and we couldn’t be more excited. We have hung homemade Christmas cookies off of the property awning, turned the front door into a local directory, decorated the exterior of the space, and there is more to come.

If you own a small local business without a storefront, please reach out to be featured on the front door of 592 Tremont Street. The directory is estimated to be on the door through January.