Worcester Wares to close Canal District location
Photo | Edd Cote
Jessica Walsh, owner of Worcester Wares, at her DCU Center location
Worcester Wares, a Worcester-centric gift shop, is closing its Kelley Square store, one of its two locations.
That Kelley Square shop will remain open until mid-March in the Worcester Public Market, and its DCU Center location will remain open and continue to offer in-store shopping.
The reason for the closure is multifaceted, said Jessica Walsh, the store's owner.
“It's really sexy to blame Polar Park or to blame lack of parking,” Walsh said. “But it’s not the reason. It minimizes the real reasons.”
Walsh said costs to operate her small retail business have steadily increased, and she continues to face difficulties after many consumers assume operations have gone back to normal for business owners following the coronavirus pandemic.
“People think we're okay because we made it through 2020,” she said. “It's actually harder now than 2020.”
For Worcester Wares, operational costs have nearly tripled, said Walsh. Manufacturers she relied on have increased their prices, with some closing down, and she had to raise shipping costs.
Worcester Wares is now having to pay back government loans from the pandemic, though some have been forgiven, she said.
In advance of the Christmas season, when Walsh said her business makes upwards of 40% of its annual income, a manufacturer closed down with $10,000 from Worcester Wares, which resulted in a scrambled replan.
“People you depend on who have been trying to hold on can’t anymore,” she said. “It’s another domino you're leaning against that falls.”
Worcester Wares will retain its online offerings as well as a full-service store at the DCU Center on Commercial Street in Worcester, which was the first location Walsh opened in 2015. The Kelley Square store at 150 Green St., which opened in 2019, will be open until March 19.
In the late summer and early fall, a rash of small Canal District businesses, all restaurants, announced they were closing or being taken over by new ownership: Maddi’s Cookery and Taphouse, Smokestack Urban BBQ, The Hangover Pub and Broth, PreGamers Sports Bar and Grill, and Buck’s Whiskey & Burger Bar.
Although the announcements being so close together ignited speculations the closings were caused by changes in the neighborhood since the $160-million Polar Park public baseball stadium opened in 2021, the reasons for each businesses’ closures varied. For example, the Smokestack Urban BBQ property was bought out for a housing development, and Buck’s location was taken over by a couple seeking to open a lesbian bar.
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