At a friends-and-family preview night at 27 Pleasant Street in late July, Anthony Rueli of Easthampton pointed at a wall. He had worked in that building when it held both Wurst Haus and McLadden's, and he remembered it differently. "There was no wall here. This entire side was the bar," he told the Daily Hampshire Gazette. "And then it was all booths on this side."
That room is now Blackbird, a music and performance venue that opened on July 31. It sits between Downtown Sounds and Northampton Wools, holds 150 people and plans to be open seven nights a week. Its arrival follows a pattern in downtown Northampton this year. The new places are not going into new buildings. Operators with local roots are taking over rooms the town already knows by their old names. They renovate the inside and keep the address.
Three addresses, three earlier lives
Each confirmed or announced downtown opening since midsummer went into a space with a known history.
| Address | What it was | What it is now | Status as of early October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Pleasant St. | Wurst Haus and McLadden's | Blackbird, a music and performance venue | Opened July 31 |
| 62 State St. | Hungry Ghost Bread | Choclo Bakery | Opened August 14 |
| 1 Market St. | The Roost, then Lichter & Levin Delicatessen | Cafe Howl, a pizza and sandwich counter | Announced in August for a September opening |
| 150 Main St., Thornes Marketplace lower level | Inside an existing marketplace | Lilla Swedish Candy | Open by mid-August |
None of these businesses had to build a following at an unfamiliar address. People already know where these rooms are, and in some cases what used to be inside. What changed is who runs them.
The people opening them were already here
Most of the people behind these openings were already known downtown, and the details are in the Gazette's coverage.
Blackbird is owned by Lauryn Winiarski. At the preview night, Rueli called her a familiar name in local live music: "Everybody also knows and loves Lauryn and live music, so I think that's a pretty cool match." Her bartender, Care O'Leary, also works at the Marigold Café and offered to help as soon as she heard about the project.
Choclo Bakery came together over most of a year. Sam Coates-Finke and Ana Valle bought the former Hungry Ghost Bread space at 62 State St. in December 2025 from Jonathan Stevens and Cheryl Maffei. They finished renovations two days before their son, Octavio, was born, and they took the next 10 weeks off before opening. The bakery is named for the Peruvian corn that shows up in many of the dishes Valle grew up with. She baked in Lima, Barcelona and Copenhagen, and her specialty is Nordic-style laminated pastry. In a typical week, Choclo sells sourdough, challah, laminated pastries and drip coffee Thursday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Cafe Howl is the clearest case of a downtown business expanding into a second space. Its owners, Amanda Riesling and Nhan Bui, opened Tellus & the Satellite in the basement of Thornes Marketplace in 2022. Their plan for 1 Market St. is a more casual counter-service and takeout spot. They tested the idea in public first. Riesling told the Gazette that market research showed demand downtown for pizza by the slice, and the two were selling slices at the Tuesday Farmers Market in front of Tellus while they waited for the new pizza oven.
Thornes stays part of the picture. Tellus is in its basement, and Lilla Swedish Candy, which sells Swedish candy and gifts, is now on its lower level at 150 Main St.
1 Market Street has turned over quickly
The corner of Bridge and Market streets shows why a familiar address does not guarantee a long run. According to the Gazette, two tenants closed there within about nine months of each other, and a third has been announced:
- The Roost, a coffee shop, was there for about 14 years before closing in March 2025.
- Lichter & Levin Delicatessen, a Jewish deli, opened four months later and closed in December 2025 after six months.
- Cafe Howl was announced in August 2026 for the same space of more than 3,000 square feet, with a September target. The old deli sign had already been painted over.
Cafe Howl's menu sets it apart from the corner's two earlier tenants. Bui said the sandwiches would include an authentic banh mi and an Italian beef, "stuff we make," and he didn't think many places nearby were doing that style of lunch. The owners plan to start with lunch, add breakfast later, stay open into the evening and eventually add a bar, pending a liquor license they took to the License Commission.
The September date was a plan reported in August, not a confirmed opening. If you're walking over for a slice, check its current status first.
What's on at Blackbird this week
When Blackbird was announced in May, the Gazette described the plan as live music, theater, drag and other entertainment, with shows most nights around 8 or 9 p.m. The city's entertainment license allows shows Monday through Sunday from 7 p.m. to midnight. No regular weekly night has been announced, so the dated listings are the most reliable guide.
Two of those listings fall this week:
- Friday, October 9, 7 to 9:30 p.m.: Eli Elkus, a folk and country-blues singer-songwriter.
- Saturday, October 10, 7:30 p.m.: Shadow, Sound, Spectacle presents "Literary Monsters," a show combining music, puppetry and storytelling to mark the release of a soundtrack, according to the Reminder.
A singer-songwriter one night and a puppetry show the next fits the mixed lineup the venue described in the spring.
The street itself is changing more slowly
The storefronts are changing fast. The streets outside them, by the city's own schedule, are changing much more slowly.
Summer on Strong turned Strong Avenue into a pedestrian-only space for dining, shopping and events through September 15. By the city's September 18 construction update, the setup had been taken down and the street was open to cars again.
The bigger project is Picture Main Street. According to the city's project page, final design plans went to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation in July 2026 for a review expected to take several months. A public meeting was held September 23, and a recording is posted. A MassDOT public informational meeting is planned for late fall 2026, with no date or time set yet. Major construction isn't scheduled until spring 2028. It will start with one season of utility work, followed by four seasons of work in different sections of the project area.
Main Street's sidewalks and traffic lanes will look much the same for at least another year and a half. In the meantime, downtown changes at specific doorways. Pleasant Street now has a stage where Wurst Haus used to be. The old Hungry Ghost Bread space on State Street is selling sourdough again. The corner of Bridge and Market is waiting on a pizza oven and a liquor license.
If you're wondering how this kind of storefront turnover plays out on your own street, or what a planned 2028 construction schedule could mean for a home near downtown, I'm glad to talk it through. Lauren Robertson follows these changes closely because they shape day-to-day life in town. Let's Connect.
