Garrison House opened at 6 Harvard Square in late 2021, at the tail end of the pandemic rules. One of its original features was a takeout window on the side street, built for social distancing. Five years later the restaurant is closing. The business set to replace it has applied for a license covering live music, taped music, television and movie screenings, and floor shows.
That swap at 6 Harvard Square is the clearest example of something happening across Brookline Village this fall. The newcomers and returnees on Harvard Street and Washington Street are designed to keep people around: a wine shop rebuilt around tastings, a matcha café whose owner wants it to be a regular gathering place, and a coffee roaster serving weekend mornings inside a cocktail bar that normally opens at 5 p.m. Taken together, the Village's storefronts are covering more hours of the day than they did a year ago.
6 Harvard Square applies for a later night
Garrison House is a two-story building with a pub-style restaurant upstairs and a downstairs lounge, Village Social Club, which has hosted live music and other events. Brookline.News reported on Oct. 20 that the restaurant is closing and that a new concept called Clementine will take its place.
Clementine comes from restaurateur Mathew Freid, who owned Idle Hour in downtown Quincy from 2017 to 2024 and previously worked at the Beehive, Capo and JM Curley in Boston. According to town licensing documents cited by Brookline.News, Clementine paid $315,000 for Garrison House's liquor license plus assets such as furniture. Here's what the plans describe:
- Seating: 128 seats inside and 32 outside
- Entertainment: an application covering live music, taped music, television and movie screenings, and floor shows
- Weekend hours: open until 1 a.m., an hour later than Garrison House
According to the town's legal notice published in the Boston Herald, the license transfer was scheduled for a Select Board hearing on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Even with approval, the license has to be physically picked up before alcohol can be sold. Boston Restaurant Talk also covered the hearing date. Freid has not announced an opening date. Until there is one, Garrison House's final nights and Clementine's first ones are both still unscheduled.
Sorriso Market came back with a calendar
A few doors down, at 27 Harvard St., Sorriso Market has been running under its original owner, Nick Lisotto, since the start of September. The wine and gourmet shop sold its Brookline Village store in 2023. When the firm that bought it went bankrupt in 2025, Lisotto was able to take the business back after months of legal proceedings, according to a September report in Brookline.News.
He reopened in the same space, rearranged for gatherings. The plans include wine tastings, from casual Tuesday-night pours to opening one-of-a-kind bottles, along with balsamic tastings and eventually pasta-making workshops. A larger art gallery and a private membership with access to the deep cellar are also on the list. Lisotto told Brookline.News:
"I've shifted kind of the focus of the store to be more encompassing, as opposed to before when I sold my pasta, wine and some art. Now it's truly going to be an experience which I'm pretty excited about."
The soft opening ran Wednesday through Sunday in September, with the full slate of events and offerings scheduled to launch in October. If you're planning a visit around a specific tasting, check the shop's current hours and events first, because the September schedule was always meant to be temporary.
Junbi Matcha & Tea keeps the lights on past dinner
Down at 190 Washington St., Junbi Matcha & Tea soft-opened June 30 and held its grand opening July 11. The Brookline Record reported that it is one of only two East Coast locations for the Los Angeles-born chain, along with Princeton, New Jersey.
According to the Record, owner CT Nguyen wants the café to become a regular gathering place for students, neighbors and people working nearby. Speaking to The Cypress, Brookline High School's student newspaper, he called the Village "the hidden gem that not a lot of people think about." Students who show a school ID get 15% off. Nguyen said the café draws repeat customers from Brookline High School and the nearby medical institutions.
The menu centers on ceremonial-grade matcha from Uji, Japan, and baristas also make hojicha, a roasted green tea. The hours stand out on this street. Junbi stays open until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, so a tea shop is serving well after most cafés have closed.
A cocktail bar that pours coffee on weekend mornings
Merai, at 14 Harvard St., calls itself a cocktail bar serving Thai-flavored food and drinks in a dive-bar setting. Its posted hours start at 5 p.m., and it's closed Mondays. On weekend mornings the same room hosts a different business. Newbery St, a Thai specialty coffee roaster, runs a café-in-residence pop-up there, usually from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Its site notes that the schedule can vary.
Newbery St is also building its own café at 240 Harvard St., the former Cremeux space closer to Coolidge Corner. Its Kickstarter closed Aug. 31 with $34,834 pledged by 265 backers, well past the $25,000 goal. In August, owner Katisomsakul told Brookline.News he hoped to open by October. He said the new café is designed so people talk to each other rather than sit with laptops. For now, Newbery's website still points weekend coffee drinkers to Merai.
Here are the posted and planned hours for these businesses:
| Address | Business | Hours on record |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Harvard St. | Newbery St pop-up at Merai | Weekends, typically 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
| 190 Washington St. | Junbi Matcha & Tea | 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon–Thu, 10 p.m. Fri–Sat, 8 p.m. Sun |
| 14 Harvard St. | Merai | 5 p.m. to midnight Tue–Thu and Sun, 1 a.m. Fri–Sat |
| 6 Harvard Square | Clementine, planned | Until 1 a.m. on weekends |
On a Saturday, then, 14 Harvard St. alone runs from morning coffee to a 1 a.m. last call. Once Clementine opens, the corner across Harvard Square will close at the same hour.
Where the Village gathers between now and the holiday market
The cultural calendar points the same direction. Most of the dates below are at two addresses: Brookline Village Library at 361 Washington St. and Station Street Studios at 17 Station St.
- Thursday, Oct. 29, 6 to 8 p.m.: A one-person play at the library, listed in Brookline.News's weekly events roundup.
- Sunday, Nov. 1, 1:15 to 4:30 p.m.: Yuseok and Keaton's Fall Concert at the library.
- Monday, Nov. 2, 10:30 to 11:15 a.m.: Babytime at Hunneman Hall.
- Tuesday, Nov. 3, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: The Brookline Village Readathon.
- Thursday, Nov. 5, 6:30 to 8 p.m.: A Brookline Commission for the Arts grantee reception at the library.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.: A beaded-earrings workshop at 17 Station St., Suite 202.
- Thursday, Nov. 19: A free visit to Station Street Studios, Suite 202, with printmaking, an earrings demonstration and a chance to meet working artists, according to ArtsBrookline.
After that, the calendar jumps to December and returns to Station Street. The Brookline Village Holiday Market runs at Station St. Studios over two weekends:
| Date | Hours |
|---|---|
| Friday, Dec. 11, opening reception | 5 to 9 p.m. |
| Saturday, Dec. 12 | Noon to 4 p.m. |
| Sunday, Dec. 13 | Noon to 4 p.m. |
| Saturday, Dec. 19 | 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Sunday, Dec. 20 | Noon to 4 p.m. |
The Friday opening reception runs until 9 p.m., later than any of the daytime market hours.
Keeping track of how a neighborhood's storefronts change, and what that means for daily life on the street, is part of how we work with clients across Brookline. If Clementine's opening or the next turnover on Harvard Street has you thinking about your own place in the Village, Legacy Fine Homes & Estates is glad to share what we're seeing locally. Contact us anytime.
