A camera crew from Phantom Gourmet shot images of Bred Gourmet’s signature smoothies last week.
Despite the brutal winter that left some Massachusetts companies reeling amid weather-related closures, three relatively new Dorchester businesses are enjoying success in a neighborhood that has become increasingly attractive to restaurateurs and retailers.

“Right now, this Lower Mills area is definitely trending towards being more of a hotspot in Boston,” said Tambo Barrow, owner of Bred Gourmet, a specialty burger restaurant that opened in Lower Mills in early January.

“With all the new developments and new condos being built, I just feel like this area is just starting to come up,” he said.

Barrow said Bred Gourmet has fared well since its opening, drawing roughly 80 to 100 customers daily and up to 130 on weekends, many of them younger residents and families. Last weekend, the eatery was featured in a prominent television food program, Phantom Gourmet, which raved about the burgers.

Barrow, who grew up in nearby Mattapan, said the location felt like a natural pick for him. He said his local upbringing has given him an advantage over other business owners and entrepreneurs who have overlooked Lower Mills and Dorchester.

“Being a burger joint in an area that lacked restaurants, we just saw a quick boom right out the door,” he said.

In Adams Corner, another new business has quickly found a toe-hold that could have positive implications for other larger chain businesses coming to town. Boston Sports Club opened its first ever Dorchester location last October in a newly renovated space at 540 Gallivan Boulevard. The club’s business director Steven Chaplin said Dorchester’s demographics influenced the company’s decision to expand into the neighborhood.

The sports club chain is publicly traded and won’t release specific details about its membership levels.

“The Dorchester location is exceeding expectations. We’re very happy with the performance and how quickly Boston Sports Clubs has become integrated into the community,” said Lisa Hufcut, the Director of Public Relations for Town Sports International, which owns the chain.
Chaplin said he attributes some of that growth to the closure of the Boston Sports Club in Weymouth and the company’s decision to lower membership fees.

Branden Franklin, general manager of the Dorchester Boston Sports Club, said the gym isn’t just attracting people from the immediate neighborhood, but also from Quincy, Weymouth and Milton.

“The community has been very open arms to us,” said Franklin. “All the local businesses, this is a big family community, they have very open arms and have welcomed us in.”

Chaplin said this increase in traffic through Adams Village benefits both the gym and other businesses in the vicinity, and Boston Sports Club places a great deal of value on its relationships with the community.

“All the businesses tend to help each other,” he said. “We’re thrilled to be in this community.”

Dorchester’s population density and demographics also made the area a prime location for a new Extra Space Storage facility, which opened its doors at 41 Norwood Street in early February, according to Jeffrey Norman, senior director of investor relations at Extra Space.

“Typically January, February, March are a little bit slower just seasonally for our industry. But so far we’ve been really happy that it’s going well,” Norman said.

The facility, which is managed by Extra Space on behalf of a third-party owner, has 902 storage units at its Norwood location, amounting to approximately 70,000 square feet of space. Norman said Extra Space hopes to see the facility reach 90 percent occupancy in three to four years.

“It’s just been a couple of months, but we’re tracking ahead of pace,” he said.

For Barrow, the success of Bred Gourmet also depends on the goodwill of the community. When he opened in January, he had no advertising plan and no promotional materials—the majority of his customers learned about Bred through word-of-mouth, he said.

In the coming months, Barrow said he hopes to implement a larger advertising campaign that will include endorsements from local community leaders. While opening Bred was “a real crash course” in business ownership, he said he is grateful for the supportive customer base the restaurant has attracted since opening two months ago.

“I’m just glad that the people of this community are able to watch us grow and to grow with us,” he said.