
The front windows at 283-285 Hanover Street were smashed leaving glass strewn over the sidewalk. The location is the former longtime site of a shoe store, Naha’s and before that Varese’s. Scheduled to open within weeks at the address is a Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt franchise.
Resident Bob Skole walked by on Saturday morning and shared this photo after he reported it to officials. He also noticed a steel pipe was lying nearby, about 4-feet long.
Later, the glass was cleaned up and the area cordoned off as shown below.

I walked by this morning at 5:30 with my dog and didn’t notice the windows being broken. Strange!
I first thought, perhaps incorrectly, it occurred overnight but the photo is from Saturday morning so I took that time reference out of the post.
I really wish pinkberry wasn’t coming to Hanover st.
I would hate to think anyone in our Neighborhood who does not approve of ” Chains” coming to the
No, End could do such a thing, but anything is possible. There are hidden cameras on Hanover
Street and maybe the police should try to persuade these people who have these cameras to show the
recordings of the day or night of this incident. I think that is the best way to go, and anyone who
has a hidden camera should be glad to help solve a crime. I guess we will find out who is going
to cooperate with the Police.
Some of them aren’t particularly hidden; raise your eyes to the rooftops from street level and you’ll find a number of shiny black half-moon orbs staring back. Big brother may not be watching, but the absentee landlords sure are. On the plus side, the only people committing serious offenses are too stupid to scope the street first.
To clarify, I absolutely don’t condone vandalism in our special neighborhood…. I am just disappointed that the personality of our area w ill be so debased by this specific chain.
What’s so bad about Pinkberry specifically? Do you happen to own a gelato shop that may have to compete with a similar, but unique, product?
What hurts the North End more than a frozen yogurt shop is the Italian restaurants that choose to skate by on the neighborhood’s reputation and serve crappy frozen food service quality Italian food (for example, see Galeria 33 BEFORE the Gordon Ramsey makeover). These places reflect on the overall quality of ALL Italian places in the neighborhood and bring everyone else down with them.
I don’t think one bad place reflects badly on any other restaurant. Each place stands on its own merits. If it’s not good, it won’t be around long. In the last 5 years, there are probably 20 new places that took the place of restaurants that were not good enough to survive.
John, unfortunately one bad place does reflect on the other restaurants, because this neighborhood has a reputation of having the best Italian in the city. When people come from other areas of the city to the North End for dinner and have a bad food experience, it diminishes the reputation of the entire neighborhood. Most people who come in for dinner aren’t heading to a specific restaurant, they are “going to the North End for dinner”. If enough people have bad experiences the overall reputation of the neighborhood takes a hit, and eventually they will stop coming in for dinner. There are a few exceptions (namely Varano’s or DePasquale’s places that have the bucks to advertise city-wide) but most of the smaller family owned restaurants rely on the “North End experience” guests.
Pinkberry is so out of place here. I think it adds a lot to the neighborhood that places are local owned. The current chains are on the periphery and I think part of the interiors charm is a lack of blatant commercialism. I hope pinkberry takes care and gives back to the neighborhood and doesn’t just use us for our foot traffct . They belong on newbury st not Hanover.
Just because Pinkberry is a franchise/chain does not mean they do not have a right to operate a business in the North End. The North End has become just as yuppified as Newbury St so it is not as out of place as you think.
Just because a business is “locally” owned (not a chain or franchise) does not mean it is supportive of the neighborhood, There are plenty of “local” (non chain) businesses in the North End who do not give back to the neighborhood and just use it for its foot traffic. Then there are the business owners who bend over backwards to support neighborhood groups, schools, and events and a few who even give before they are asked.
I do not like yogurt …frozen or otherwise… but for those residents and visitors who prefer it to gelato or ice cream they will now have an option.
I’m 99% certain this was not a crime. I walked by that store Saturday AM and there was no broken glass. Then there were jackhammers going at the intersection of Parmenter and Hanover. I walked by about an hour later and the glass was broken. My guess is the jackhammers caused the glass to break.
I hope Pinkberry goes after this vandal and prosecutes them to the fullest extent of the law. This type of behavior is classless and reflects the North End’s ugly history.
Y don’t people of the north end just grow up because you are giving it a bad name I grew up there and would like to stay proud of it if you stay out of your stupid things you are doing I can’t even say thank you because you should be doing it all ready