Labor Day Shopping, Now with Added Options

Trilogy, the construction project in the Fenway that's seemed to take forever, is slowly wrapping up the construction phase. The small road connecting Kilmarnock Rd to Brookline Ave (the small intersection with Fullerton St. near the Art Store) was paved and opened about a month ago. The construction chain link was also removed. The Trilogy project is finally progressing on the road to a functioning building. West Elm, Ikea with more color and a higher price tag, has been a Bostonist favorite for catalog shopping for a little something (their vases and storage/accent pieces make great gifts). The Fenway has become home to one of the 20 or so physical stores West Elm has scattered across the nation. We haven't quite determined the driving force behind locating the store where at the 160 Brookline Ave location. It seems more appropriate to catch the foot traffic of Newbury St. or Boylston, before it crosses Mass Ave. Unless they've got a "Go Sox" sign in the window it's likely that most of the foot traffic will pass them by. Their promised Late Summer opening was well timed. They opened the store just in time for move-in day and Labor Day shopping.

Along with the Fenway location of West Elm they've also opened a store in the new Wayside Commons in Burlington, Mass. The new shopping center has a handful of stores open as of Friday, though reports from the field report large portion of the complex is still in the coming soon phase. We haven't made it out there yet (it's a subway ride and two bus transfers, forgive us). In the new not-an-outlet-mall and not-a-mall but some sort of mall-meets-Main Street (they call it a "lifestyle center") an L.L. Bean store has also opened up. We can't see that this smaller shop in Burlington will be a true replacement for the wonderment of a childhood consumer adventure in the nearby Freeport, Me. store that's open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. This week you can find the catalog items without the 2 hour drive as L.L. Bean launches a new retail store. Though the L.L. Bean store is open now, the grand opening hoopla happens in two weeks on September 15.

Picture at top: West Elm furniture in a bedroom setting. Bottom pic: It's back to school time - didn't you own one of these backpacks from L.L. Bean too?