Shopping center opens on Spring Street near garage

The three new retail shops are a part of an effort to revitalize downtown Princeton that was headed by developer Jack Morrison, who is the owner of Witherspoon Grill Blue Point Grill, Nassau Street Seafood & Produce and the Princeton Farmers’ Market.

The development also includes 52 new apartments, which are located above the stores.

Morrison could not be reached for comment.

CoolVines, a wine and spirits shop, was the first to open last August. Owners Mark and Beth Censits have been residents of Princeton since 1994, and Mark is the current president of the Princeton Merchants Association.

Though the couple started their first store in Westfield, N.J., they wished to open a store in Princeton as well.

“We have always lived in Princeton and have long wanted a store here,” Beth Censits said. “This [shopping] area used to be only a parking garage.”

Though primarily a wine shop, the store also stocks unusual spirits, craft beer and champagne and offers free wine tastings on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Adjacent to CoolVines is Pristine Fine Dry Cleaners, which opened last October. The Spring Street store is a drop-off and pick-up location that sends customers’ items to a North Princeton plant for cleaning.

Pristine, in addition to its cleaning services, offers concierge tailoring and shoe repair services.

“We are glad to be here serving downtown Princeton and the University,” Pristine employee Mary Beth Sharman said. “It’s a super opportunity for business, and we’ve already begun to see many returning customers.”

The development project was completed with the opening of the D’Angelo Italian Market on Jan. 22. The family operated store includes a full-service butcher, pizzeria, grocery and deli. The store also offers catering services.

“We’d like to offer a neighborhood place that locals can walk up to to get breakfast, lunch and dinner,” said Danielle D’Angelo, who is the daughter of the store’s owners, Joe and Anna D’Angelo.

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“It’s a community-oriented place,” she added.

The D’Angelo family also owns Tuscany Italian Specialty Foods and Caterers which is located in Jackson, N.J.

Representatives of the three stores emphasized the shops’ flexibility and their attention to customer services. CoolVines promises to special order any wine or spirit within a day while Pristine Fine Dry Cleaners offers free home delivery and a text-ahead curbside service. Danielle D’Angelo said that special offers are made by the Italian Market.

Several students said they welcomed the increased diversity of local shopping.

“It would be convenient to have a grocery store close to campus,” Emily Kirkegaard ’12 said of the new Italian market.

Kyle Ofori ’13 also welcomed the market, noting that “it’ll probably be nice not to have to drive to Whole Foods.”

He also said that the closer dry-cleaning service would be an improvement over walking to Craft Cleaners, which is located up Nassau Street near Hoagie Haven.

Beth Censits, meanwhile, said that the development was on its way to fulfilling its promise of improving business in the Princeton Borough and bringing in more residents.

“Increasing the residential density of the downtown area can only help,” she said.