Bedford Papa Gino's Undergoes Renovation

The Papa Gino's at 310 Great Road underwent a quick renovation earlier this week and is now open again. The renovation modernized the look with new signs, menu boards, tables and seating areas.

The new signs feature updated fonts and colors. The Pizza at it's best wording has been replaced by Pizzeria.

I spoke to General Manager Mike Thacker about the new design. Mike mentioned the new design has been in the works for quite a while and the goal is to bring the look of the restaurant up to date. The new seating arrangement has lead to a slight reduction in the total number of seats. The menu has not been changed.

The plastic booths have been replaced with wooden tables and chairs. Similar to McDonald's and other Quick Serve Restaurants, high stool "bar" seats have been added for people who are eating by themselves.

The new design for Papa Gino's began rolling out almost 2 years ago and most locations have been updated.

Another picture of the new decor. Many restaurants use mirrors to make the dining room appear bigger.

In the past few months, we have seen renovations of several restaurants in town. While I think the Papa Gino's renovation will probably be beneficial, I am less certain of their sister restaurant D'Angelo Grilled Sandwiches (also owned by Papa Gino's). While most D'Angelo locations have been updated, Domino's has just announced they have added sub sandwiches. I predict this will cut in to D'Angelo's business. UPDATE: Seems like D'Angelos is concerned about this. For the second time in several weeks, they have plastered car windshields in nearby office parking lots and residential mailboxes with coupon flyers. Rather than annoy people by cluttering windshields, it would be better and faster to drop off the coupons at the front desks. In fact why not drop off a few free subs with the coupons at some of the larger businesses like some of the restaurants do in Burlington?

While the Papa Gino's menu itself has not changed, the recently updated menu boards no longer sport that 70's look.

A large Mural has replaced the self service beverage dispensers.

Northside Convenience and Gas Opens

The old Gammy's General Store at 44 North Road has re-opened as Northside Convenience and Gas. The store appears to carry the typical convenience store items and currently offers a 5 cents a gallon discount if you are paying with cash. The store is open 5:30am-10pm during the week and from 7am-10pm on weekends. With the opening of Northside Convenience, Bedford is back up to 5 gas stations.

The new store opened with a $2.99 Milk promotion.

While the new store opened last week, the old Gammy's sign is still up.

Candy and Novelties Store Opening Soon

Cuzz's Candy, Novelties and more is set to open soon at 72 Great Road, right next to Ken's NY Deli. This space was very briefly occupied by a bike store last year. As you are probably aware, this space is part of the Blake Block development project which got the final go ahead from the town on March 5th. The fact that this store is just now under construction and the space at 84 Great Road has a For Rent sign leads me to believe that the Blake Block project will not be moving forward for a while.

The old Artistic Framer space (next to Ginger) is available for rent again.

It appears that the Ginger Japanese Restaurant is on a seven week vacation and will not reopen until after Labor Day.