The town of Newton has been expanding in the past few years. A new Kwik Shop and a Quick Trip are both currently under construction, a Starbucks was built last year and new local businesses are popping up as well such as Crystal Cave, The Sweet Shoppe and The Cajun Crab. Big opinions have been formed by Newton High School students over what other restaurants, event centers and retail shops should take over Newton next.
Junior Benjamin Teichler would love to have both a Panera Bread and Chipotle in Newton. He would like Savers for a retail clothing store and The Alley for an event center, which is both a bowling alley and an arcade. Teichler thinks The Alley would be a successful place in Newton because of its multiple activity options.
“The Alley has go-karting, batting cages, arcades [and]mini-golfing,” Teichler said. “[For food] Panera is a slightly healthier alternative to fast food but it’s still quick and simple. Chipotle [though] is Chipotle, everyone loves Chipotle. [For clothing] Savers is like Goodwill except it’s not a charity and so they actually can put their money into improving their stores, so they have a lot higher quality merchandise for a slightly higher price, but they still have a lot of good stuff.”
When asked if the latest expansion of Newton’s business has been successful, Teichler says no, as he hasn’t even heard about recent some companies, and every place he enjoyed, hasn’t lasted.
“I’ve lived here for four years now and I have not seen anything new, aside from a Starbucks. There’s nothing to do here. Every good place closes down because no one here is willing to put money into improving stuff,” Teichler said.
Starbucks was a company in Newton that became incredibly popular the first couple of months it was open. Now, it’s a little more toned down with busyness depending on the time of day. Senior Erik Kaufman has a similar opinion to Teichler, but when it comes to Starbucks, Kaufman didn’t find the opening to be anything life-changing.
“Starbucks moving into Newton is very exciting for a lot of people,” Kaufman said. “The addition to Starbucks in Newton is not revolutionary because there are a lot of good local coffee shops and cafes that already exist.”
Senior Keegan Schreiber, who is a coffee lover, enjoys going to a local coffee shop called Norms’ better than going to Starbucks but still is excited about the latest expansion of Newton and what’s still to come. If Schreiber could pick what places she would want to come to Newton, she would love to have a Culver’s, Texas Roadhouse, Target and a laser tag center.
“It’s exciting, we finally have more places to go and hang out with friends,” Schreiber said.
