At 660 Centre St., one building has two front doors and two very different years behind them. On the B side, Bluefin's seafood counter closed and Gori & Co. moved in, serving Japanese shaved ice by June. On the A side, a sign for Equis Pica Pollo has been up since spring. The space has passed from 100% Delicias to Fritay to The Hub, and Equis is next in line.
That building sums up the year on Centre Street. Most of what changed in 2026 happened on one short stretch, from 597 to 660. Three of the places still waiting to open are on that stretch or a short walk toward Hyde Square, where two of them sit at 376 and 380, two doors apart. If you walk Centre Street every week, the stretch that filled up and the stretch that's still waiting are both easy to spot.
The stretch that filled, door by door
Four buildings within about 60 street numbers got new tenants this year. Walking from the Monument end toward the Loring-Greenough side, you'd pass them in this order:
- 597 Centre St., Beyond Proof. Krista Kranyak's zero-proof bar with Mediterranean small plates took over the old Ten Tables space. Boston Restaurant Talk reported a planned April 7 debut. By May, Boston Magazine was describing it as open since April. In late October it was still taking reservations.
- 613 Centre St., Café Selah. Jamaica Plain News reported in mid-April that it had opened earlier that month. Boston Restaurant Talk followed with its own opening note on May 4.
- 636 and 638 Centre St., Edwin Barber Studio and JP Vape & Smoke. These two opened in a building that had never had a street-level tenant before.
- 660B Centre St., Gori & Co. Owner Delasie Dela-Seshie Jr. took the space Bluefin left. Boston.com put it on its summer 2026 list of new dessert shops as open in June. The shop's own site now reads "NOW OPEN" over the 660 Centre Street address.
Look at what's on that list. A bar with no alcohol on the menu. A café. A barber. A shaved-ice counter. Every one of them does one narrow thing. These aren't large, full-service restaurants. They're small, focused shops, and they moved into storefronts that larger concepts had left or never used.
The building that waited longest
The 632-638 Centre St. building may be the most telling address on the stretch, because nothing came before this year's tenants. Jamaica Plain News put it plainly in September:
"The brick building at 632-638 Centre St. finally has ground floor tenants for the first time in its existence."
The same report said Edwin Barber Studio had opened at 636 within the previous two weeks, according to its Instagram, with JP Vape & Smoke next door at 638. That's the latest change on the stretch, and it filled the one gap that had been there the longest. Between Beyond Proof at 597 and Gori & Co. at 660, it's now hard to find a dark window on this part of Centre Street.
What 660 Centre St. shows about the rest of the year
Back at the split building, the two halves moved at very different speeds.
The B side moved quickly. Owner Jason Tucker announced on Facebook that Bluefin's 660 Centre Street location had closed for good, thanking the community he called "the JP community." Jamaica Plain News reported the closure on March 2. By May 11, the same outlet had named Gori & Co. as the replacement, and the shop was serving by June. That's about three months from the closure report to a new tenant announced, and about one more month to opening.
The A side is still waiting. Jamaica Plain News announced Equis Pica Pollo on June 1. It will be the Dominican fried-chicken chain's seventh location and its second in Boston, after Blue Hill Avenue, with the others in New York and New Jersey. The menu is short: fried chicken from 3 to 12 pieces, a side of tostones or French fries, and Dominican fried rice. No opening date has been announced.
The sign has been up since June, and for now Gori & Co. is the only half of 660 Centre St. that's open.
The Hyde Square pair, two doors apart
Down Centre Street toward Hyde Square, 376 and 380 are the next place where things will change. Each has a named operator and a concept. Neither has an opening date.
| Address | Business | What it will be | Latest public status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 376 Centre St. | Bethlehem Cafe | Palestinian restaurant led by Ashlee Wiest-Laird | Under construction as of July 31, 2026, with no official timeline |
| 380 Centre St. | Behan Caffe | Café tied to the Brendan Behan Pub | City licensing hearing held February 11, 2026, with no opening date announced |
| 660A Centre St. | Equis Pica Pollo | Dominican fried chicken | Announced June 1, 2026, with no opening date |
Jamaica Plain News introduced Bethlehem Cafe in June, while construction was already underway. At the end of July, WhatNow Boston reported that work was still going on and that no official opening timeline had been set.
Behan Caffe is a different kind of project, with a longer path to opening. The City of Boston's public hearing notice lists 378-380 Centre LLC as the applicant for a common victualler license with all-alcohol service seven days a week. The hearing was set for 10 a.m. on February 11, 2026. Jamaica Plain News covered the plan that month and named a manager from the Brendan Behan Pub. No opening date has been reported since.
What these three share is a slower route to opening than the shops on the 597-to-660 stretch had. One is a full liquor-license application, one is a restaurant build-out with no timeline, and one is an announced tenant whose sign went up five months ago. The barber, the café and the shaved-ice counter fit into existing rooms and opened fast. The Hyde Square pair is going through licensing and construction first.
The Saturday market that never left
Through all of this, one part of Centre Street has stayed the same. The Jamaica Plain Farmers Market sets up at 677 Centre St., behind Bank of America, just past the 660 building. Its organizer's site lists Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m. year-round and Tuesdays from noon to 5 p.m. from mid-June to Thanksgiving. The 2026 calendar on Marketspread sets the last Tuesday market for November 24.
After the November 3 market, three Tuesdays remain: November 10, 17 and 24. After that, Saturday is the only market day through winter. The organizer's vendor page lists Stillman's Farm, Stillman Quality Meats, Red's Best seafood, Still Life Farm, Golden Rule Honey and El Colombiano Coffee. Since that roster isn't dated, it's worth checking with the market which vendors stay on through the cold months.
One more reason to walk toward Hyde Square in November
The Connolly Branch Library at 433 Centre St. sits between the 600 block and the 376/380 pair, so a walk from one to the other goes right past it. On Saturday, November 14, from 2 to 3:30 p.m., the Jamaica Plain Historical Society hosts Jill Hofstra's book talk on "I'm Edwina" there. From the library, Bethlehem Cafe and Behan Caffe are a short walk south, so you can see how far along both storefronts are on the way home.
The walk from 597 to 660 now passes open doors almost the whole way. The papered windows left are at 660A and down at 376 and 380, and those three are the openings to watch for this winter.
If you own a home on or near Centre Street and want to know how the street's ground-floor activity shows up when a property goes on the market, Colleen Kelly follows these storefronts door by door, just as you do. Schedule a free strategy call, and we'll talk through what the 2026 changes mean for your corner of Jamaica Plain.
