ON A STREET best known for its gas-lit lamps, its residents’ Old World pedigrees, and its stores’ endless stock of antiques, a crew of young, spunky innovators are opening up shops and adding spice to a traditional — dare we say bland? — stew. Over the past year, several stores have popped up on Beacon Hill’s Charles Street, providing an alternative to dizzyingly busy malls just in time for the all-important holiday shopping season.

You could say it all started with Wish. Just about a year ago, three former employees of Newbury Street’s BCBG brought their stockroom dreams to fruition, opening up one of the hippest women’s boutiques in Boston. On a gloomy afternoon, amid bursting racks of eclectic, pricey, and distinctive women’s wear, two of Wish’s owners, Jane Monahan, 26, and Kate Allan, 28, chat about the street’s current renaissance. "We looove being in this neighborhood," enthuses Monahan, who’s outfitted in one of the store’s formfitting, high-waist sweaters. "Hey!" she claps and smiles at Allan, noticing that her partner is also dressed head-to-toe in Wish ware. "We’re both decked out." A few other items on the Wish racks: a turquoise wool suit with an A-line skirt worthy of Jackie O ($500), a little black crepe dress ($280), and a black wool hat with a curled brim and playfully floppy bow ($150).

A month ago, Charles Street welcomed Moxie, an intimate boutique selling one-of-a-kind women’s shoes, bags, and jewelry, which carries such hard-to-find lines as Cynthia Rowley’s footwear and Me & Ro jewelry. It all complements the clothing found down the street at Wish. "Our stuff is feminine, stylish, and wearable," explains store employee Randi Tanguay, 29, before adding, with a glint in her eye, "there are only so many antique stores you can have."

You can complete the one-street-shopping experience at Good, an art-gallery-cum-housewares-store-cum-cosmetics-outfitter owned and designed by Paul Niski, which opened about four months ago. Pethnikone Nokham, the 27-year-old store manager, who sports a tight T-shirt with PERVERT splayed across the front in red, laughs when asked to describe the shop. "It’s a mix of vintage and contemporary," she says. "Everything is focused on design and home fashion, with some jewelry." As for the store’s pricey items, like the scented Diptyque candles ($40) and intricately embroidered throw pillows ($160), Nokham says customers’ purchases prove that Good items have appeal. "Everything’s, like, antiques," she says of what’s traditionally been available on Charles Street. "Everything’s, like, clutter. Out with the old and in with the new."

Down the street, at five-year-old housewares store Koo de Kir, thirtysomething owner Kristine Irving seems to straddle both the old Charles Street and the new. Primly dressed, her straight brown hair neatly pulled back from her face, Irving embodies the aesthetic of her upscale home-accessories shop, which sells items such as angular sofas, wide picture frames, and clay tea pots. "We all have a passion and a vision," she says of the storeowners on Charles. But Irving blanches when asked about the changing neighborhood. "First rule," she instructs, with a visible cringe. "Don’t call it a strip."

Where to find it:

• Good, 88 Charles Street, Boston, (617) 722-9200

• Koo de Kir, 34 Charles Street, Boston, (617) 723-8111

• Moxie, 73 Charles Street, Boston, (617) 557-9991

• Wish, 49 Charles Street, Boston, (617) 227-0170

Issue Date: November 22 - 29, 2001

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