Four Brookline businesses have closed in recent weeks, and local merchants say town policy decisions are making an already brutal market worse.

Golden Temple, Party Favors, Kaojiu and Sanela Salon all shuttered this summer along Coolidge Corner and Harvard Street. Each closure had its own trigger: a family ownership dispute, rising costs with no successor, an owner relocating overseas, another moving away. But business owners and the regional chamber's president and CEO told Brookline.News the losses have exposed a deeper problem with how Town Meeting and the Select Board treat the commercial districts.

Specific policies in the crosshairs

Merchants pointed to three town decisions they say have rattled confidence: the Select Board's February 2025 vote to advance a $29 million Washington Street redesign that removes parking for separated bike lanes, outdoor lighting regulations and Town Meeting's May 2025 ban on foie gras sales.

Former Brookline Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Chris Mutty said French restaurant La Voile cited the foie gras ban as one factor in its decision to close. The ban, proposed by four Brookline High School students and carrying a $300 fine, passed over objections from restaurant owners.

"It sends a negative signal to the business community that you could make an investment in a town like Brookline just to have the rug pulled out from underneath you," Mutty said.

Select Board member John VanScoyoc was the only board member to vote against the Washington Street redesign, arguing that its protected bike lanes and parking removal did not serve the interests of the commercial districts.

Rising costs compound the squeeze

The policy complaints land on top of post-pandemic economics that are grinding down owners who survived COVID shutdowns.

Steven Peljovich, owner of Michael's Deli on Harvard Street, said ingredient prices have tripled or quadrupled since the pandemic. "I'm paying, in some cases, three or four times for raw product than I used to, with no end to that in sight," Peljovich said. "At some point, you can only charge so much for a sandwich."

Greg Reibman, president and CEO of the Charles River Regional Chamber, which absorbed Brookline's financially struggling chamber in April 2026, said owners are exhausted. Many are thinking about retirement or trying to sell, he said, and unless the market favors a sale they are forced to close.

Mutty added that federal-level economic uncertainty is keeping potential entrepreneurs on the sidelines rather than signing commercial leases. "You've got to know that you're going to be profitable over the next 10 years," he said.

David Leschinsky, owner of Eureka! Puzzles & Games in Coolidge Corner, said the neighborhood has cycled through waves of trend businesses: frozen yogurt shops, ice cream parlors, nail salons and now barber shops. Entrepreneurs rush in, he said, only to struggle because the area cannot support so many similar storefronts.

Leschinsky said well-meaning town initiatives on the environment and neighborhood quality do not always account for their impact on businesses.

Some new investment arriving

Not every signal points downward. As we reported July 29, Eureka Puzzles and incoming Yu Yue Bar & BBQ (replacing Kaojiu at 406 Harvard St.) appeared before the Planning Board for façade sign reviews, a sign that some new tenants are moving in even as others leave.

Tom Coppi, who has owned The Picture Place in Coolidge Corner since 2015, said his business has held steady but acknowledged the barrier to entry has risen sharply. Commercial rents, he said, make it nearly impossible for someone to start a business from scratch today.

No Select Board meeting or Town Meeting article is currently scheduled to address the business-climate concerns raised by merchants.