A Year After Starbucks Left Wellesley Square, Where Does Central Street Get Its Coffee Now?

The Starbucks at 68A Central St. closed at the end of September 2025. A year later, its replacement still hasn't opened. In between, the coffee shop across the street spent more than a year getting from announcement to opening day. In both cases the delay came from the paperwork and pipes behind the counter, not from the brands. On Central Street, sewer rules and permits have set the timing of each new coffee shop.

The coffee options around the Square are different now. Before you walk down for a latte or a croissant, it helps to know what is open, what is coming, and what is still waiting on paperwork.

Thirty years at 68A, then a year without a counter

Starbucks opened in Wellesley Square in 1995, taking over from The Coffee Connection. At the time, a company spokesman told The Wellesley Townsman that Starbucks had "a significant number of Starbucks mail order customers from Wellesley." Thirty years later, in late September 2025, The Swellesley Report found a sign on the door saying the store would close "by the end of this week." It was one of roughly 200 closures in a company-wide restructuring.

Starbucks did not give a reason specific to Wellesley. CEO Brian Niccol's memo said the company was closing stores where it was "unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don't see a path to financial performance." The Linden Square Starbucks at 190 Linden St. stayed open.

The Square had lost a long-running coffee shop once before. Peet's closed in 2021 after a 20-year run, and Chase Bank took over the space. After the Starbucks closing, the next coffee shop on Central Street was already being built across the street. It just wasn't open yet.

The grease trap that decided Blank Street's opening date

Blank Street Coffee announced its Wellesley shop at 61A Central St. in March 2025. The space had been a lighting store. The 2025 proposal described a 22-seat café serving pastries and sandwiches that are prepared off-site and heated in the store. That sounds like a simple build-out. It wasn't.

Wellesley requires restaurants to have exterior gravity-fed grease traps, which keep cooking grease out of the town sewer system. According to The Wellesley News, Linear Realty, which manages the property, proposed a cheaper interior hydromechanical trap instead. Blank Street argued that grease wouldn't be much of an issue because it mostly serves coffee, not food. At a Board of Public Works meeting on Sept. 8, 2025, Director of Public Works David Cohen described the town's position:

"[Interior grease traps] are not typical for us and are not something that we've been terribly comfortable with."

On Oct. 20, Cohen announced that Blank Street would connect to the existing exterior grease traps at Black and Blue Steak and Crab, next door at 65 Central St. He said that option would cost "a little more" than Blank Street had hoped, and that the company chose it because it was concerned about opening in time for the Christmas season. The shop missed Christmas anyway. By mid-February 2026, Blank Street told the paper it still did not have an opening date.

The company later confirmed Thursday, May 7, 2026 as opening day, about 14 months after the sign first went up. The shop is about 1,000 square feet with 18 to 20 seats, fewer than the 22 in the original proposal. Menu favorites mentioned in local coverage include the Iced Daydream and Iced Blondie lattes and the Strawberry Shortcake and Cherry Freeze matchas. Its store page lists hours of 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

What SALT Patisserie is bringing to the old Starbucks space

The tenant planned for 68A Central St. will make far more of its food on site than Blank Street does. SALT Patisserie opened in Newton Centre in 2022 and filed building permit paperwork with the town for its second location in the former Starbucks space. Chef Thiago Silva's menu combines his Brazilian roots with French pastry training. According to What Now Boston, all baked goods in Wellesley will be made on site. The menu is expected to include cakes, éclairs, tiramisu, croissants, artisan bread, sandwiches, salads, focaccia pizza, espresso drinks and matcha. Two of the shop's signature items are the Quatro Leites Cake, Silva's four-milk take on tres leches with homemade dulce de leche, and pão de queijo, a naturally gluten-free Brazilian cheese bread.

Silva also explained how the shop plans to run. "We aim to sell out our goods daily, similar to our Newton location," he told What Now Boston. He said one of his pet peeves as a chef is "visiting a bakery near closing time and seeing a full display case of baked goods." If SALT follows that plan, late in the day you're more likely to find an empty case than leftover pastries.

SALT is aiming for late October 2026, but the date isn't firm. Silva said "many factors must align for that to happen" while the team waits on permits. As of early October, no opening had been announced. The plans call for 22 seats: 18 bench and booth seats plus four along a drink rail. SALT's ownership has turned down private equity buyout offers in order to grow on its own, and it is in active talks about locations in downtown Boston and Harvard Square. One more detail for anyone giving directions: SALT will be a few doors down from Salt Boutique, the women's clothing store that has been at 72 Central St. since 2020.

The rest of the coffee map, from Church Square to the Hills

While 68A sits empty, the rest of the area's coffee options fall into three groups: a few spots within a short walk of Central Street, a run of bakeries and cafés along Washington Street toward Wellesley Hills, and the chains at Linden Square. Hours below are as listed on each business's own page or in local directories as of this fall, and they may change.

Several of these have recent news. Le Petit Four opened in January 2025, and The Wellesley News described its croissants, danishes, kouign-amann and pain au chocolat. Jejes is planning a Seaport location for 2027, according to a January 2026 report. Wellesley Bakery & Cafe, a 12-seat café, marked 30 years in business in 2024. Popovers at Church Square is run by co-owners Morgan Schaffrath and Carl Parisien and is known for its oversized popovers. Truly's has also opened Truly's Next Door, an event space for gatherings of up to 35. Farther out, Tatte has a location in Linden Square, near the Starbucks at 190 Linden St.

Which hours are hardest to cover this month

Based on the listed hours, the Square's coffee options thin out in a few predictable windows:

• Monday mornings: Popovers is closed Mondays, and Jejes lists no Monday hours. On Central Street itself, Blank Street is the open counter.
• After 5 p.m.: Blank Street closes at 5. Within the places listed above, Caffè Nero at 339 Washington St. is the one listing coffee until 7 p.m. every day.
• Sunday: Jejes lists no Sunday hours. Quebrada opens at 6 a.m. and closes at 4 p.m., and Popovers opens an hour later than on weekdays.
• Late October: SALT's opening date depends on permits, so check for an announcement before planning a pastry run to 68A.

Blank Street's opening came more than six months after its Oct. 20, 2025 grease trap decision and about 14 months after it was announced. SALT's window signage is already up while it waits on its own permits. Until 68A Central St. opens again, the stretch of Central Street between Blank Street and J.P. Licks is where to find coffee in the Square.

Town requirements like the ones that delayed a coffee shop on Central Street can also shape the timeline of a home sale, through permits, inspections and certificates the town must sign off on before closing. If a property you're buying or selling depends on one of those approvals, Laura Wurster can review the timeline and contract terms with you. Schedule a consultation to go over your transaction with a broker who is also a real estate attorney.