Signs announcing the latest store closures are visible in Baltimore’s twin Harborplace pavilions as retail tenants complete plans to vacate the waterfront marketplace before planned demolition.
The latest tenants to leave are the owners of side-by-side businesses in the Light Street Pavilion, Lynnette and Eric Dodson. They ran Cuples Tea House and Vinyl and Pages on the pavilion’s first level. The final day of operations was Sept. 30.
The spaces were closed and unattended this week, but lights were on and inventory was still visible through the glass storefronts.
Closure and half-off sale signs have been posted at two more stores: Neighborhoods Urban Goods in the Light Street Pavilion; and Life in Charm City in the Pratt Street Pavilion. Both stores have the same owner, and feature Baltimore- and sports-themed apparel and gifts.
The final day for Neighborhoods Urban Goods, which occupies the old Vincenzo’s Produce space, is Oct. 31. The final day for Life in Charm City is Oct. 25. The sales are in effect until the store closes, employees say.
Such store closure signs weren’t always allowed at Harborplace. The original owner of the pavilions, The Rouse Company, didn’t permit tenants to post such notices under its strict sign standards.
The current owner, MCB Real Estate, has announced plans to demolish the two pavilions at Pratt and Light streets and replace them with a $900 million mixed-use development containing two apartment towers, offices, shops, restaurants and open space. Construction is expected to take at least five years to complete.
To keep the pavilions active while it finalizes its plans and lines up financing, MCB has offered short-term leases tenants that agree to vacate when the company is ready to move ahead with demolition.
MCB officials said in June that they were aiming to start the first phase of construction, which includes demolition of the two pavilions, in the fourth quarter of 2026. They have since told tenants that the pavilions will stay open until the end of 2026.
Some of the remaining tenants say they would like to stay open as long as they can. Others, such as the operators of Cuples Tea House and Neighborhoods Urban Goods, have timed their closures to coincide with the fourth quarter of 2026.
Seven city residents last month filed a lawsuit against an MCB affiliate and the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore in an effort to block MCB’s demolition-and-development plans. But departures and ‘Store Closing’ announcements are proceeding.
The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, meanwhile, is bidding adieu to the “old Harborplace” during its Baltimore by Baltimore festival on Saturday at the Inner Harbor Amphitheater, with music and vendors from noon to 7 p.m. Create Baltimore will have a tent where visitors can create postcards about their Harborplace memories.
‘End of an era’
“End of an era, beginning of a new one,” said Eric Dodson, the tea house owner, in a farewell post on Instagram. “Everybody that stopped through, that came through both Howard Street and the Harbor, who’s been a part of this journey with us, thank you, thank you so very much….We knew that they were going to tear the buildings down and we had to move. So although it’s bittersweet, it’s time to go.”’
One tenant that is bucking the trend is the CollegiateLuxe HBCU Store, which features apparel bearing logos from Morgan State and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Instead of closing, it expanded over the summer.
The store initially occupied space on the second level of the Light Street Pavilion. After Made in Baltimore vacated its space on the pavilion’s first level in June, CollegiateLuxe took over that space as well and now has a presence on both levels of the Light Street pavilion.
CollegiateLuxe has used social media to promote the fact that it’s the only store on two levels of Harborplace.
“We’re Growing at Harborplace,” boasts one social media post. “The only two-story retail experience at Harborplace…Premium HBCU style on Baltimore’s waterfront.”
The HBCU store is currently having a ‘15 percent off’ sale to coincide with Homecoming events at area colleges and universities and the Baltimore by Baltimore festival at the Inner Harbor this weekend.
“It’s Homecoming Season,” says its latest post on Instagram. “Wear your gear. Rep your school at Baltimore by Baltimore.”
Harborplace tenants update
Here is the status of remaining Harborplace tenants:
Angeli’s Pizzeria: The restaurant is open Fridays and Saturdays on the second level of the Light Street Pavilion. Owner Juniet Ozturk said last month that he hopes to stay open at Harborplace until the end of the year: “As long as they need us,” he said, “we are here.”
Supano’s Sports Bar and Grill Steakhouse was open on Thursday and will remain open daily, an employee said on Thursday. She said she didn’t know if there is a closing date.
Creatively Black Baltimore, a sprawling art exhibition and the largest occupant of the Light Street Pavilion, still has artwork on view in the old Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum space. This fall, its organizers mounted a second art exhibition at the Top of the World Observation Level on the 27th floor of the World Trade Center Baltimore, 401 E. Pratt St. Curator Larry “Poncho” Brown said Creatively Black Baltimore intends to remain in the Light Street Pavilion until the end of the year, giving his team two downtown locations at least for a limited time.
Matriarch Coffee – Harborplace Café was closed on Thursday afternoon, but others said it was open in the morning. An employee said last month that the owner has plans to move to a new location that’s currently under construction nearby on Pratt Street.
Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls was open on Thursday. An employee said she thought November may be its last month but she wasn’t certain.
Crystal Visions, a kiosk outside the Pratt Street Pavilion that features sunglasses and hats: Still open and no firm closing date.
ITSUGAR is still open in the Pratt Street Pavilion. Assistant store manager Janelle Dickerson said last month that the company is doing well at Harborplace and wants to stay open as long as it can.
Readings by Mia in the Pratt Street Pavilion: Harborplace’s resident fortune teller hasn’t been seen regularly in her space for months, but she sometimes sets up shop along the Inner Harbor promenade.
Rouse Company ties
Another tenant who wants to stay as long as possible is Luis Medina of LAMESA Raw, a Pratt Street Pavilion store that features women’s dresses made of raw cotton.
Medina is one of the last tenants with direct ties to The Rouse Company. He began as a merchant at Rouse’s Gallery at Market East development in Philadelphia in 1987 and has been a tenant at Harborplace since 1990, when The Rouse Company still owned the pavilions. He said he never met developer James Rouse, who died in 1996.
Medina said he started at Harborplace with a push cart in the Light Street Pavilion, moved up to a storefront within a year, and has been in his current location for the past three years. He has a second Baltimore location at 728 S. Broadway in Fells Point.
Medina said his Harborplace location did especially well this summer when the tall ships came to town and drew big crowds to the Inner Harbor. He said that small independent merchants like him tend to be more nimble than businesses with large corporate owners, which set a firm closing date and stick to it. He said his plan is to remain open at Harborplace until the end of the year and shift full time to his Fells Point store after that.
