It’s been a sad week for independent markets. Family-run Watertown shop Russo’s is closing after 100 years, and so is a newer but much loved spot: Allium in Brookline’s Coolidge Corner. Owner Talia Glass, 38, is tired. She wants time for her family. She’d love to stay on to acclimate a new owner — but if she doesn’t get any bites, she’ll shutter the three-and-a-half-year-old gourmet shop this fall.
Why did you decide to step away from the market?
So Allium opened in December of 2017. Really, our first full year was 2018. For most food establishments, whether they’re retail-based, market-based, or restaurants, it really takes three to five years to hit the ground, find your stride, and for the finances to come into balance and stuff.
We were really lucky, because at the very beginning of 2020, we were trending really, really well. The neighborhood was loving us. We really started to grow an amazing community of customers and support.
Then, when the pandemic hit, it just was entirely about survival. It was just go, go, go. And pretty quickly, I had to make the heartbreaking decision to lay off and furlough all of our staff. Those were absolutely the hardest days of my entire business-owning career. It was the most heartbreaking thing. It was the hardest thing ever. My promise to them, and to me, was that my job during that time was going to be to just make sure Allium would survive, somehow.
I’ve delivered food to all of our customers’ homes wearing an N95 mask and two layers of gloves and stuff during the craziest parts of the pandemic. And it’s just been exhausting. It’s exhausting running a restaurant or a food business on a good day without a pandemic. But when at the core of what you’re doing there’s an added element of health and well-being and safety that isn’t normally there — there’s also this looming element of a scary virus?
I think vaccines for food-service workers were pretty late to come out. I mean, all of our employees are vaccinated, but we were pretty upset with the rollout. It really feels like I’ve been running a marathon while holding my breath. I just couldn’t get over it; I was so, so tired. There are other things that I want out of my life. [Allium] basically needs the amount of energy and strength that I gave it the first three years. I’m tapped out, and I’m really hoping to pass the torch.
Have you had any inquiries yet?
We’ve had a lot of inquiries, actually. It happened pretty quickly, and they still keep coming. We’re actually this week starting to have conversations with people. There’s nothing solidly in the works yet. But there’s a lot of inquiries about it, which has been really amazing.
I would say 50 percent are people from the community, customers of ours saying, “Hey, I want to invest. I want to help somehow. I’m a full-time, doctor, lawyer, teacher, mother, et cetera, and so I can’t take you over, but I would want to invest.” Then we’ve had inquiries from other business owners who are interested and some other food folks in the Boston community. So I’m really hopeful right now that we’ll be able to pass the torch on. I may stay involved in some manner. I just can’t steer the whole ship anymore.
What’s the role of a neighborhood shop like yours going forward, with independent businesses so badly hurt by the pandemic?
Allium is unique in that we play the role of a gourmet market, neighborhood bakery, coffee shop, lunch spot, cheese shop. One of the greatest joys that Allium has brought me and the greatest roles it’s played is just as a place to gather, a place for community, a place that’s welcoming for all, a place that celebrates community and happiness and occasions and togetherness through good food. You don’t do that at a grocery store. Nobody goes to Star Market to chat with their neighbor in the aisles.
We have folks who meet their neighbors here, and they have catch-up conversations while they’re perusing the shelves. We have regulars who come to Allium every single day, and they order the same drink and they get the same pastry without fail.
I’m nervous that a lot of the small, independent places — whether they’re restaurants, coffee shops, bars, markets, et cetera — that the pandemic has been financially so incredibly hard on us all that we’re going to see a lot of the larger commercial chain places just swoop in and take over. That’s my greatest fear right now, because it’s not at those places where community is built.
We’ve had people on first dates at Allium. We’ve had people break up. I can think of a handful of customers who were elderly, and we’ve sat at a table with them, knowing that they’re dying, and that they’re not going to be around. And then we’ve gotten to meet their families once they passed away, who’ve come in and said, “Hey, this place was really special for my mom in the last year of her life, and thank you.” We’ve had people come in to tell us that they’re pregnant with their second kid or their first kid, and then we get to watch their pregnancy, and then they bring their newborn. We have really been able to celebrate the lives of our customers with them. I hope that continues.
Why did you decide to open the market?
My first job ever was at a Dairy Queen in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was lucky enough to have early experiences working at Zingerman’s, which is a world-renowned market. I’ve been a server, I’ve been a cook, I’ve been a host. I have worked as a farmer in California, Vermont, and Michigan, and most of those farms were growing specific produce for chefs.
And then a second and third job on top of things at times was actually at Whole Foods.
I had been in the process of opening a food truck in Vermont when my husband and I decided to move to Boston. He’s an environmental engineer, and he got a really great gig here in Boston.
We moved to Washington Square. We’re big hikers; we like to just take food and throw it into a backpack and go on a hike. We were going on a hike with our dog, and we were like, “Oh, well, let’s just go someplace to find a baguette and some salads and we’ll go off to the Blue Hills.”
And we realized there was no place like that in the area, and we were bummed out. We thought, “We need a Zingerman’s-type place around here!” And kind of as a joke, we were like, “I guess we’ll have to start our own.” That germinated the seed. It was born out of the fact that there was no place like Allium in Brookline. We wanted a place like that. It was selfish!
Who’s been your most memorable customer over the years?
As you asked that, I got tears in my eyes, because we did we have this customer, Helene, who just was amazing. She passed away from cancer. And she came to us pretty much every day. She would walk over from her house, and she’d get tea and a citrus scone.
She was just such a fierce firecracker of a woman, even all the way up until the end. And then, once she passed away, we got to know her kids who came in and just said, “Oh my gosh, our mom would talk about coming to Allium so much.” It was remarkable to think that Allium had such an influence on her. To this day, I miss her.
What’s next?
I have no idea right now. I’m going to spend time with my husband. I’ll be really honest: I really hope to start a family. I’m going to sleep a lot and spend time in my garden.
Favorite local restaurant?
We almost always go to either Prairie Fire, which is conveniently located half a block away, or Tres Gatos in JP.
Go-to pandemic snack?
Does wine count? Is that awful?
Not awful. Favorite quarantine binge-watch?
Can there be 25 more seasons of “Ted Lasso” available right now? Also, we just started watching all the seasons of “Top Chef.” Man, there’s some drama!
Owner Talia Glass asks that interested buyers contact her at allium.talia@gmail.com.
Kara Baskin can be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @kcbaskin.
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