Newbury Street has long been viewed as one of the best shopping destinations in Boston.  Last year, gaping holes were left as retailers like the Gap and LouisBoston departed, causing Newbury’s occupancy rate to fall to about 80 percent. But, as new boutiques, stores and galleries are opening this year, do you believe that Newbury Street will return to its former glitz? What shops would you like to see on the street? 

Things won't improve until Imam Obama is out of office.

Newbury Street will always be fine.  They should turn the former Louis into a boutique hotel.  I'd love to see a Jamba Juice somewhere too, but that's a minor detail.

They should lease the former Louis to ABC Carpet & Home, my #1 destination for shopping in Manhattan. Or a Strand Bookstore (fearless optimism). Or an antiques coop. And we need a more local Anna's Taqueria.

how about the  brazen thefts and lingering bums

Nice idea about making Louis  a hotel. Hotels in Boston have proven they can survive without parking.  Louis needed the parking and the move to the seaport area was smart.

Things go in cycles and with the seaport area soaring, Newbury street will take a punch.  The new plaza where Legals just opened is very popular.

Obama has nothing to do with Newbury Street, only a clown would think this.  The Mayor and his poor snow plowing this past winter can be blamed. 

Newbury Street is still a charm, and needs more anchor stores like Nike.

In reply to jackbu, you say that only a clown would think it is Obama's fault then go onto blame the mayor of Boston. What is the reasoning behind your statement?

Newbury Street is alive, new shops are always popping up. And money is always spent there.

I thought I explained myself quite well.  If you know anything about Newbury Street, you would know there is a Newbury Street League which handles marketing for the street.

The Mayor has botched many parking proposals by the Street, and if you were down there during the winter, you would have seen the bad snow removal job which was done.

Newbury Street has been off for years, and if you know any shop owners, you would know this.  Even the Ritz took off many years ago and The Taj has to fill its rooms via priceline.

The problem for Newbury Street is the same problem plaguing areas like the upper west side in NYC; large firms, real estate trusts, and insurance companies have all bought up the properties and are hiking the rents to draw in stable, big name chains who are the only ones capable of affording the rent. In the mean time, if the storefronts stay empty, the ownes have the luxury of sitting on the equity held in the properties because they paid for them outright. As a result, they only incur short term debt that they can leverage into dividends and capital gains rendering it unnecessary for their wealth to have the storefronts filled immediately after a tenant vacates or goes out of business.

In point of fact, Obama would be good to solve this problem because promises of financial regulation and taxes on ultra-high capital gains would make it so that banks, lenders, and building owners would be forced to take a chance on one off retailers that fill spaces such as storefronts on Newbury Street. What made Newbury Street a landmark for the city was its diversity of chain stores and one offs. Now the only one offs are art galleries or food service places and the major retailers are all national chains with little difference from their mall counterparts.