FAIR HAVEN: SIGN OF RENEWAL?
It took months of complaints by a frustrated postal clerk, plus some attention by redbankgreen, but the Fair Haven Post Office finally has an identifying sign out front.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
FAIR HAVEN: STILL NO SIGN OF POSTAL SIGN
Almost three years after it was removed, and five months after redbankgreen last reported on it, the Fair Haven post office still doesn’t have an identifying sign out front. Instead, there’s a hand-lettered cardboard sign in the window, now surrounded by holiday trimming.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
FAIR HAVEN: POSTAL SIGN LOST IN THE MAIL?
A flag and two mailboxes out front hint at what’s inside, but the Fair Haven post office hasn’t had identifying signage for about two years. That’s created the mistaken impression that the office is closed, says the frustrated local clerk.
What’s Going On Here? Read on. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
FAIR HAVEN: ACME CENTER MAKEOVER OK’D
Three renderings of the proposed monument sign that proved a sticking point for planning board members. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A makeover of Fair Haven’s dowdy Acme shopping center won borough planning board approval Tuesday night, but minus a proposed slab of signage that dominated a three-hour meeting.
FAIR HAVEN: ACME CENTER CHANGES DETAILED
Forman Street resident Bonnie Moore photographs an exhibit used in the hearing. Below, an illustration showing proposed changes to building 1, on the western end of the site. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Overdue for a new look, the 1950s-vintage Fair Haven strip mall anchored by an Acme supermarket is also badly in need of a new parking scheme, its owner told the borough planning board Thursday night.
It would get both by the end of October if the board approves an extensive makeover plan in coming weeks, Dan Hughes, a principal in the company that bought it for for $5.8 million two years ago, told the board.
FAIR HAVEN: ACME CENTER TO GET MAKEOVER
Plans call for the creation of a pedestrian passageway linking the north and south parking lots through the former Laird’s Stationery space next door to the existing Post Office. The “salon & spa” sign is for illustration purposes only. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The owner of the Fair Haven strip mall anchored by an Acme supermarket plans extensive renovations to the site, according to documents filed with the borough last week.
The plans include dividing the former Laird’s Stationery space in two to create a pedestrian breezeway linking the front and rear parking lots. But they leave unanswered questions about whether other longtime tenants might be forced out, as the owners of Laird’s contend they were.
FAIR HAVEN: BIKE SHOP CALLING IT QUITS
Bike Haven will close by the end of September, its owner says. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A second longtime retailer is leaving the Fair Haven Shopping Center.
But unlike Laird’s Stationery, which is temporarily relocating to smaller quarters in the center after getting squeezed out of its home by a steep rent increase, Bike Haven is simply calling it quits, owner Cliff Wittenberg tells redbankgreen. And a rent hike is only the final nail in the tire.
FAIR HAVEN: AT LAIRD’S, A SIGN OF CHANGE
Marking the end of an era, Fantastic Signs owner John Oakley and his 12-year-old daughter, Charlotte, removed the cursive sign atop Laird’s Stationery in Fair Haven Tuesday afternoon.
As previously reported, the store, which traces its lineage back more than half a century, will close by the end of September, after a new landlord declined to renew the lease.
FAIR HAVEN: LAIRD’S GETTING SQUEEZED OUT
Bob and Rose Budnick outside their store with longtime customer Katherine Brounley. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Tucked into the corner of a Fair Haven strip mall, marked with minimal signage, Laird’s Stationery is easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. But locals know it, and know it as a jam-packed emporium of not only paper goods and office supplies, but everything from backpacks to wiffle bats.
“The register never stops ringing,” owner Bob Budnick said early this week, as three customers converged at the front desk to pay for their purchases. “This store is woven into the fabric of a lot of people’s lives.”
But the register is about to stop ringing, here at least, and the business may be doomed, said Budnick and his wife.