"He had the wherewithal to change." Maynard Forbes said that about his high school contemporary Steve Verrill and the way Verrill Farm adapted over the decades. Forbes came to West Concord in 1951 at fourteen, and his family ran the West Concord 5&10 for most of the years since. Writing in Discover Concord this September, Jennifer C. Schünemann applies the same phrase to the village itself.
The phrase fits Commonwealth Avenue closely. The village's buildings tend to outlast their tenants, and the useful way to read the street is address by address, as a series of occupants. This October, several of those addresses are changing hands or changing purpose at the same time. On Saturday, October 17, Discover West Concord Day puts most of them on one walkable afternoon.
The Same Addresses, Under Different Names
Forbes described the pattern from behind his own counter. His father bought the West Concord 5&10 in 1951 and moved it into the three-story building that many residents still connect with the store in 1959. The family later owned the building next door too. Over time it held a holiday shop, then the Gatehouse, then the ice cream shop Reasons to Be Cheerful, and now Eva's Little Kitchen. The Discover Concord piece puts it plainly: "Spaces remained, uses changed, and new proprietors added their own personalities."
The same history repeats up and down the avenue:
| Address | Earlier lives | Today |
|---|---|---|
| 110 Commonwealth Ave. | Holiday shop, the Gatehouse, Reasons to Be Cheerful | Eva's Little Kitchen, open since mid-August 2025 |
| Former West Concord 5&10 | Forbes family five-and-dime, sold in 2020 | Debra's Natural Gourmet expansion and Refillery |
| 74 Commonwealth Ave. | Gas station, Wild Bill's Emporium, A New Leaf | Planned Guitar Museum of New England |
| Damon Mill | Textile mill, A&P warehouse, apple storage | Offices and workspaces after a seven-year restoration |
| Bradford Mill | Allen Chair Company complex | Offices, Wheelhouse Coworking, ArtScape, Concord Sign Museum, Barefoot Books |
| 135 Commonwealth Ave. | Concord Flower Shop under Helen Halloran | Concord Flower Shop under Renata Paes since August 1 |
The 5&10 handoff shows how these transitions tend to work in the village. When Forbes decided to close, he did not want his family's building to become a generic commercial property. In 2020 he sold it to his longtime neighbor Debra Stark, who had opened Debra's Natural Gourmet next door in 1989. Her son Adam finished expanding the store into the old 5&10 space. That expansion included a Refillery where customers buy bulk food in containers brought from home. Discover Concord reports it was the first retail outlet in Massachusetts to do so.
Bradford Mill took longer. John and Johanna Boynton were among the buyers of the former Allen Chair Company complex and finished its restoration in 2012. John Boynton went on to start Wheelhouse Coworking and ArtScape, now home to more than twenty artists. He also co-founded the Concord Sign Museum with sign maker Billy Crosby, which collects hand-painted and carved signs from Concord businesses that no longer exist. Barefoot Books moved its global publishing operation into the mill in 2021.
This Year's Turnovers
The table's last row is the newest change. Helen Halloran ran Concord Flower Shop for 43 years. In June, The Concord Bridge reported that she was retiring and that Renata Paes would take ownership on August 1, with Halloran staying on to help with the transition. The shop has not closed, and it is still at 135 Commonwealth Ave.
Woods Hill Table at 24 Commonwealth Ave. had a short pause in September. Kristin Canty opened the restaurant in 2015, two years after she bought a New Hampshire farm to supply it. She later opened Adelita, now at 1200 Main St. Woods Hill closed on September 16 while state and local officials investigated a salmonella cluster. It reopened on September 22. Concord Public Health Director Melanie Dineen told The Concord Bridge that laboratory testing counted 14 cases, nine employees and five customers. She confirmed the restaurant was safe. Employees need two negative tests before they can return to work. Woods Hill is on the posted roster for October 17.
74 Commonwealth Ave. is still in progress. The Guitar Museum of New England is a nonprofit being developed by Minuteman Guitars owner Wilson Schünemann and Jennifer Schünemann. Jennifer Schünemann is a co-founder of Discover Concord, which published the September history piece quoted above. This spring the site hosted performances during Spring into West Concord Day in May and West Concord Porchfest in June. Discover Concord described all of that as happening "before construction had begun." No opening date has been announced. The organizers describe the future museum as "experiential," with instruments brought out for performances, talks and small concerts instead of kept behind glass.
A New Leaf, the shop that used to occupy 74 Commonwealth, is listed among the October 17 craft sellers as "Meg Gaudet and friends."
October 17, Ten to Three
The Concord Chamber of Commerce lists Discover West Concord Day for Saturday, October 17, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Its listing promises shop sales, food treats, seasonal specials and a craft market. The posted roster includes most of the addresses in this post and many others. Among them are Debra's Natural Gourmet, Eva's Little Kitchen, Concord Flower Shop, Nashoba Brook Bakery, Salt Box Kitchen, Concord Teacakes, West Village Tavern, Concord Outfitters, Joy Street Life and Home, Loveday, Puck & Abby, Vintages/West Concord, West Concord Wine and Spirits, and Barefoot Books @ Bradford Mill.
Here is one way to walk it, using the posted times:
- Morning on Commonwealth Avenue. Coffee and pastry from Concord Teacakes at 59 Commonwealth Ave. or Salt Box Kitchen at 84 Commonwealth Ave., then Debra's at 98 Commonwealth Ave.
- Cider at 101 Commonwealth Ave. The Chamber plans to set up a tent and serve cider on the patio in front of Reflections Women's Consignment.
- The Green at 13B Commonwealth Ave. Craft and nonprofit tables include A New Leaf, Beads Without End, Crafted Together, Karen Stokke, Pond Art Studio, caricaturist Samara Reid, and the FFA chapter from Minuteman High School. Rock-a-Bye Beats plays on the Green from noon to 1 p.m.
- West Concord Pocket Park. A guitar musician is listed at the park's table, along with Art for All activities elsewhere in the program.
- Bradford Mill. ArtScape is opening its studios and gallery for the day.
- Junction Square Drive, 2:30 p.m. Concord Conservatory of Music runs a multigenerational bucket drumming workshop at CCM 2 Garage, 15 Junction Square Drive, until 3:30 p.m. Workshops are free for active CCM students and $10 for everyone else.
- Church Street, 4 p.m. Concord Youth Theatre's Teen Company performs Between the Lines at 53 Church St.
That route ends at two of the village's newer cultural uses. The Conservatory bought 15 Junction Square Drive for a future community music center and has already expanded programming in the refurbished building there. Concord Youth Theatre turned a former church on Church Street into a 210-seat permanent home in 2019, with help from actor Chris Evans and his mother, Lisa.
The Rest of the Fall Calendar
Discover Concord tracks the village's cultural side back to 2016, when the Massachusetts Cultural Council designated West Concord a cultural district. The calendar through November shows how much of that activity now happens in reused buildings:
- SAMPLER Gallery, 45½ Commonwealth Ave. The gallery's inaugural exhibition, "Relic," runs through November 7.
- Concord Youth Theatre, 53 Church St. Between the Lines runs October 16 at 7 p.m., October 17 at 4 p.m. and October 18 at 2 p.m. The Mainstage production of Shrek the Musical follows on November 6 and 13 at 7 p.m., November 7 and 14 at 4 p.m., and November 8 and 15 at 2 p.m.
- Concord Conservatory of Music. Intro to Improvisation is on Wednesday, October 7, from 6 to 7 p.m. A Film Music composition workshop meets in the CCM 2 Media Lab at 15 Junction Square Drive on Monday, November 2, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
- Fowler Library and ArtScape. "Lakes, Leaves, and Landscapes," a community art show, runs October 1 through November 20. Artwork is dropped off at ArtScape, 43 Bradford St., second floor, and the opening reception is at Fowler on Thursday, October 8, at 4:30 p.m.
The village's older layers are still easy to see along this route. Damon Mill's brick building went up after a fire destroyed the wooden factory in June 1862, while it was filling an order for the Union Army. Edward Damon rebuilt almost right away. In Ralph Warner's era, workers built more than twenty-five houses along Commonwealth Avenue, and many of them still stand. At the Concord Sign Museum in Bradford Mill, the signs of businesses that once used these storefronts hang a short walk from the shops using them now.
The next sign to change will probably be at 74 Commonwealth Ave., but no date has been set.
At Levy RE Group, we pay attention to how West Concord's buildings change hands and change use, because that history is part of what an address on Commonwealth Avenue is worth. If you own in the village or are thinking about it, we are glad to talk through what this fall's changes mean for a particular property. Contact Us.
