An eclectic blend of stores comes to Northborough plaza
Official Grand Opening Nov. 3
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

PHOTOS/KEN POWERS

Northborough - An eclectic mix of nine shops has turned the quiet corner at the intersection of West Main Street and Route 20 into a spot where you can get your morning coff ee, buy a gift for that special someone, have Korean barbecue for lunch, pick up birdseed and dine at a sushi bar for dinner.

All of that and more is available at the shops at 290 West Main St., diagonally across from Times Square shopping center.

The plaza, built by local developers Tony Abu and Jimmy Flanders, will host its official Grand Opening Saturday Nov. 3.

"It's really going to be quite a grand opening," said Bob Maher, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited, located in the plaza. "The Chamber of Commerce will be on hand, there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony, each store is going to run a Grand Opening Special, and there will be raffles and door prizes and balloons - truly something for everyone."

Maher was the first tenant in the plaza, opening his doors March 1 after relocating from Shrewsbury Village.

Since his arrival, other stores to open for business at the shops at 290 West Main St. have been the Korean- BBQ Kitchen, LalaJava coffeehouse, Mikaku Japanese Cuisine restaurant and sushi bar, Memories Gift Store, newleaf salon & spa, newleaf yoga & pilates, and STOCK Kitchen Design Center.

Maher said there is also a plan in the works for a maternity shop to open and an available space for another business to move in as well.

"It's really a very unusual shopping mall," Maher said. "Not only is there quite a varied collection of stores and shops, but the look and feel of the everything about it gives it a very distinctive New England flavor, and the understated look fits in well with the tradition of the town of Northborough.

"I absolutely love the location," Maher continued. "I'm in the center of my customer base. It's very reachable from Northborough, Shrewsbury, Berlin and Southborough. I'm doing much better here than … in Shrewsbury. I really like the fact that folks can park right in front of my door and walk right in. They couldn't do that in Shrewsbury."

Maher credits the open, available and always positive Abu and Flanders as big reasons the plaza has gotten off to what he believes is a good start.

"Tony and Jimmy are just fantastic guys," Maher said. "They took a lot of care when building it that it would be well crafted, well conceived and classy looking. They're on the property every day. They get their coff ee at LalaJava, they eat lunch in the restaurants, they buy their birdseed at my place."

Just think of the shops at 290 West Main St. as onestop shopping of a unique and diverse nature.