Walk down South Park Street or Bloomfield Avenue on almost any week and, sooner or later, you'll pass one: a storefront with paper taped over the glass, no name on the awning yet, and just enough visible through the gaps to make you slow down. Most people keep walking. I don't.

Twenty-five years in a classroom taught me that the most useful information is often sitting in plain sight, waiting for someone to ask about it. A papered-over window on a strong retail block is basically raising its hand. That's the idea behind this series. Essex County Business Watch is where I keep tabs on the small businesses opening, closing, and changing hands across our downtowns — not because I moonlight in retail, but because storefronts are one of the most honest signals we have about where a neighborhood is headed. This time, the storefront in question belongs to something called A Wonderful Time, and it's set to open in Montclair this October.

A Storefront With a Secret

If you go looking for A Wonderful Time online right now, you won't find much, and that appears to be entirely on purpose. Its website greets visitors with a countdown clock ticking toward an October opening, a single interior photo, and a headline that doesn't try very hard to explain itself: a store that's, in its own words, "kind of store-ish." There's a spot to leave your email if you'd like an invitation to the grand opening. That's about the whole of it.

What we do know is that whoever is behind it is putting real effort into how it opens, not just when. This past spring, the founder posted a listing for a Retail Operations and Sourcing Intern to help build out the shop's collateral, products, and fixtures, and to establish the operational systems a new retail concept needs before its doors ever open. That isn't the kind of hiring you do for a weekend pop-up. It's the kind of hiring you do when you're building something meant to stay.

What We Actually Know So Far

• Name: A Wonderful Time
• Location: Montclair, New Jersey (exact address not yet public)
• Timeline: Opening October 2026
• Concept: Not yet revealed
• How to follow along: An email sign-up on the store's website for grand opening details

Why the Mystery Is the Point

There's a temptation, especially in real estate, to want every piece of information up front: the price, the condition, the comparable sales, the whole picture before you'll even consider it. But some of the better outcomes, in retail and in real estate alike, come from people willing to let things unfold at the right pace instead of the fastest one. A Wonderful Time is choosing curiosity over information overload. It's a small, low-stakes reminder that not knowing everything yet isn't the same thing as not being ready.

The Business Watch: Why I Track Storefronts, Not Just Listings

I didn't start paying close attention to storefronts because I wanted to be a retail analyst. I started because clients kept asking me some version of the same question: is this neighborhood on its way up? You can answer that with comparable sales and days-on-market figures, and I do. But you can also answer part of it by walking the block.

What New Businesses Tell Us About a Block

A new, intentional retail concept choosing a downtown says something a spreadsheet can't. It says a founder looked at the foot traffic, the rent, the demographics, and the competition, and decided this was the right bet to make. Multiply that by every new coffee shop, boutique, and gallery opening within walking distance of a listing, and a pattern starts to appear. Montclair's mix of independent shops along Bloomfield Avenue and Park Street has long been part of its pull for buyers moving up from smaller downtowns, or out of New York City, in search of a walkable community with its own identity. The same is true, in smaller doses, in Bloomfield, Verona, and South Orange.

The Waiting Game Isn't Only for Buyers

Sellers wait for the right offer instead of the first one. Buyers wait for the right home instead of the fastest closing. Homeowners in Glen Ridge, Nutley, and Cedar Grove wait to see how a new business a few blocks over changes the character of their own street before deciding whether now is the moment to list. None of that waiting is passive. It's usually how the better decisions get made.

A quiet storefront with a countdown clock in the window is still telling you something. So is a quiet housing market. The trick is learning to read it instead of ignoring it.

Turning Anticipation Into Information

You don't need a real estate license to read a "coming soon" sign the way I do. Here's what I look for whenever a new concept is announced anywhere in Essex County, whether it's a storefront or a stretch of homes I'm watching on behalf of a client.

What This Means If You're Buying, Selling, or Just Staying Put

None of this means you should change your offer because a new shop is opening two towns over. It means these small signals are worth folding into a larger conversation, alongside the numbers that matter more directly to your own situation.

If you're touring homes in Montclair this fall, asking what's changing on the commercial strip near a house you love is a perfectly normal question, not an odd one. If you're preparing to sell in Bloomfield or South Orange, a lively downtown a short walk away is worth mentioning to buyers, though it will never substitute for pricing your home accurately. And if you're simply staying put and watching, welcoming a new local business is one of the more enjoyable ways to keep a pulse on your own neighborhood.

Frequently Asked Questions