Online Marketplace Lures Ethnic Arts Shop from Coolidge Corner Storefront
Crossroads Trade to close by end of the year.
As the recovering economy works to fill many of the Brookline storefronts emptied by the recession, the Internet economy has put at least one space back on the market. Crossroads Trade, an ethnic arts trade at 271 Harvard Street, is closing its doors this winter to move all of its sales online. Owner Kate Harris, who moved the store to Brookline five years ago, plans to run the new Web-only operation out of her Arlington home. Though Crossroads Trade has had a website for most if its 11-year existence, Harris said she's recently seen more and more customers turn to the Internet for purchases rather than visiting brick-and-mortar stores like hers. She said the new dynamic has made it particularly difficult to recover from unexpected slow …
