RED BANK: TILE STORE MAKES BIG SPLASH

Jan 4, 2017

New York City-based Nemo Tile opened a showroom in the former home of Nirvana clothing. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

In this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn, the seemingly relentless restaurantization of Red Bank takes a bathroom break.

Nemo Tile and Stone opened a showroom last week in the former Nirvana clothing store space at 21 White Street. But the New York-based company’s first foray into New Jersey is no mere toe-in-the-water: it’s a 4,000-square-foot plunge into the heart of downtown.

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January 4, 2017 - 6:25 am |

RED BANK: COMINGS AND GOINGS DOWNTOWN

Sep 1, 2016

Freshica’s, above, and Soul Strong have opened in the West Side Lofts. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

This edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn has news about:

• two new businesses in the West Side Lofts;

• a retailer taking over a building in the heart of downtown;

• and a sizable player in Red Bank’s vaunted antiques district putting its home up for sale. More →

September 1, 2016 - 11:59 am |

RED BANK: YOUR PHOTOS, IN TILE AND GLASS

Nov 22, 2013

Pete Theodoropoulus in his new Red Bank tile-art gallery, Tesserae, where works sell for $2,500 to $25,000. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Pete Theodoropoulus is still not an artist, though one might say his skills as a businessman are quickly approaching artistry.

As detailed by redbankgreen last summer, he’s a food guy, one who owns multiple Italian-ice stands and restaurants around New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. And he’s not yet 30 years old.

But Theodoropoulus believes he’s found a huge opening in the art world: a market for large images assembled from thousands of bits of cut and broken stone and glass. Art that weighs heavy on the walls and heavy on the wallet.

He’s seizing control of it. And his venture, in development for nearly two years, officially got a face this week with the opening of his gallery, called Tesserae – Greek for ‘mosaic’ – in a storefront on Broad Street in Red Bank.

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November 22, 2013 - 4:44 pm |

RED BANK: MOSAIC SHOP TAKES BALLEW SPOT

Jun 5, 2013

Tessarae, featuring works like the 500-pound “Penthouse Views,” below, plans to open at 36 Broad Street in early July. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

After a 99-year run as a jewelry store and two-plus years as a vacant shell, the former Ballew Jewelers storefront in Red Bank is about to become an art store.

Sort of.

Tesserae, as it’s called, will feature only mosaics, all of them the brainchild of a 27-year-old restaurateur who’s only been in the creative realm for 18 months and leaves the execution of his ideas to someone else.

A budding Jeff Koons of the shattered-stone world, Pete Theodoropoulus makes no pretense to being an artist. What he’s selling, at prices ranging from $3,000 to $20,000, is home decoration some of it weighing in at as much as 500 pounds, he tells redbankgreen.

“I wouldn’t consider myself an artist,” he said. “I have the vision that this company could eventually have hundreds of stores worldwide.”

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June 5, 2013 - 8:39 am |

Red Bank Green

Serving Red Bank and Greater Red Bank, NJ

RED BANK: TILE STORE MAKES BIG SPLASH

RED BANK: COMINGS AND GOINGS DOWNTOWN

RED BANK: YOUR PHOTOS, IN TILE AND GLASS

RED BANK: MOSAIC SHOP TAKES BALLEW SPOT