Filoncino Bakery Cafe at 111 Bridge Street. (Photos by Brian Donohue Click to enlarge)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
It may be the summer doldrums, but there’s no slow season in Red Bank’s perpetual business turnover cycle. In this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn, a new Italian cafe opens; a piano business ends a 32 year-run on Mechanic Street; and the sounds of sewing machines are about to return to the former textile factory now known as The Galleria.
- Filoncino Cafe, an Italian bakery and cafe has opened in The Rail, the 57-unit building alongside the train station at 111 Bridge Avenue.
The café, based in Staten Island, has a menu featuring over 120 sandwich options, a variety of fresh baked goods, desserts, and Italian specialty items. The 2,500 square foot cafe joins Melonhead, a juice, smoothie and acai bowl shop, and The Smile Aesthetic, which offers cosmetic dentistry services inside The Rail. The final tenant, Hydraderm Spa, offering a variety of facials, will open in the summer of 2024, according to a press release from developer Denholtz Properties. With the opening of Hydraderm Spa, the retail space at The Rail at Red Bank will be 100% occupied.
• June & Joy, a handbag and clothing retailer in Fair Haven, has relocated to the Galleria of Red Bank at 2 Bridge Avenue. Identical twin sisters June and Joy Martin, originally from Tanzania, opened their doors in Red Bank about two months ago, seeking more space to display their clothing and fabric imported from India, Italy, Tanzania and elsewhere, along with their custom made handbags. With several sewing machines in a back room, June tells redbankgreen they plan to start producing some of the signature bags on site. 
There are echoes of history here: the Galleria is the former location of the Eisner Company which mass produced military and boy scout uniforms for decades in the first half of the 20th century. June said that element added to their excitement of moving to the new location. “We are excited to make the bags here,” she said. The shop took the space previously occupied by Down to Basics, a bedding shop.
Ruscil’s Pianos, which has offered lessons, sales and service at 17 Mechanic Street since 1992 is closing up its storefront. For the first time since the Great Depression, Red Bank will not have a storefront with the Ruscil family name on it. Owner Rob Ruscil opened the storefront in 1992 after starting the business out of his father’s furniture store, Ruscil’s Furniture, which stood on East Front street from 1933 to 1985. Ruscil said he was closing the business because he wanted to get out of the used piano business, which is moribund. Another reason? “I’m 73 years old. That’s the main reason. That will do it.”
Ruscil has no plans to retire, however, and will continue to offer piano moving, tuning and service and has rented a storage facility to keep supplies. He will also offer lessons in students’ homes but is not taking on new students.
He just didn’t need the storefront retail space any longer. “For four or five years my accountant has been screaming at me to get rid of it. I don’t need it.”
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