New Furniture Store to Open In Vacant Washington Street Storefront

A new furniture store will open in the South End later this month. Addo Novo, a contemporary furniture store based in Portland, Maine, will open its second location at 1313 Washington St. with a grand opening date tentatively set for March 15.

Alex Lehnen, an employee of Addo Novo who will be working at both locations, said the expansion came from customer requests.

“We’ve had a lot of requests from our customers out in that area to seek [Boston] out as a place to go next,” he said. “We’re really looking forward to going there.”

The owners looked at properties throughout the city before settling on a South End location, Lehnen said. The new store will be a stone's throw from , next door to .

“We looked at a number of different places all across the city and this spot was convenient for a number of reasons,” he said. “The space is great, I think it was the biggest of the ones we looked at. It’s a great place, and there’s a dog park nearby, which was important.”

Though the company is expanding their space, their employee list will remain the same size for now.

“We’re pretty small, only eight people between the two stores,” Lehnen said. “Everyone does a little bit of everything. Even the owners make deliveries.”

Lehnen described Addo Novo as specializing in mid-century and modern designed furniture, and said the majority of their stock is "furniture for the home and small commercial environment.” While the style of the furniture they carry may be similar, Lehnen said it comes in a wide price range.

“We like to think that [the furniture] is attainable for most people," he said. "We have a very wide spectrum at different price points…but what brings together all of our stuff is that we only bring in things that are made to last. We don’t want someone to buy something that’s going to be broken or out of style in 10 years.”

Addo Novo is moving into an area of Washington Street that is already home to several furniture stores. Reside, which opened last month at 1409 Washington St., describes itself as “where mid-century modern lives,” and is just a few doors down at 1317 Washington St.

Curt Carpenter, co-founder of Lekker, said he’s excited about Addo Novo moving in nearby, calling the store "a tremendous addition to the neighborhood."

“Their furniture is very architectural,  modern [and] that is highly complementary to what we sell," he said. "If anything, we’d share the same customers, and it’s going to make Washington Street a destination for modern home furnishings."

Nick Fedor, Executive Director of Washington Gateway Main Street, welcomed Addo Novo to the neighborhood.

“I think it’s going to be healthy competition,” he said. “Business clusters such as this one tend to thrive in areas like this. I think the businesses will do well.”

In addition to Addo Novo, 1313 Washington St. will be getting another new tenant in . The company, which specializes in high-end and commercial real estate, will be moving their offices at 476 Columbus St. to the new location sometime this spring.