Pitaland Renovating Store, Adding Café

Pitaland is taking a cue from its customers, and adding a major feature clients have been requesting for years.

The Brookline Boulevard market is in the middle of a top-down renovation, the result of which will be an updated and redesigned grocery store that includes an eat-in lunch café.

“Hopefully it will bring something new to the neighborhood,” said owner Danny Chahine. “Over the years people have begged us for a café or asked us to put something in like that, so hopefully we can bring that to them.”

The new café will feature hand-made sandwiches, salads and soups, as well as hummus, pies and other baked goods. Pitaland is a family-run business, and Chahine’s brother-in-law, Greg Tweardy, will be the one creating the menu and managing the café.

Pitaland first opened on the Boulevard in 1969, in the storefront that is now South Hills Printing. It moved to its current location in 1989, and has looked basically the same ever since. Chahine said it’s definitely time the store got a face-lift.

In addition to the café, the grocery store will get an updated look and possibly a larger selection of goods, and new equipment will be installed. Chahine said all of the classic Pitaland products will still be available.

It will take about three months to totally complete the project, but the store should be open to the public again at the end of January.

Although the storefront is closed right now, customers still can come to Pitaland and place orders. Customers should come to the bakery door, which faces Brookline Boulevard and is located between Pitaland’s main entrance and the entrance to Vinny’s Pizza Shop.

The door is marked with a sign reading “Pitaland Customers Enter Here.” Someone inside will be taking orders, Chahine said.

The whole project should be complete in March, which also is the month the Brookline Boulevard Reconstruction Project is scheduled to begin. That could be a bit challenging for Pitaland, but Chahine said the staff is ready.

“The timing wasn’t perfect for this, but we’ll be here,” he said. “You can expect some nice new things to come. This will be something new to us and something we’ve been wanting to do for years and years.”

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