Kalembar Dune Planning to Expand

A local business owner has purchased her entire building with plans to renovate the area and expand her store.

Shirley Walsh, owner of Kalembar Dune, bought her entire building at the corner of Spring and Baker streets this past spring. An architecture nut, Walsh said she plans to renovate and refurbish all of the building's five units, before expanding her vintage and antique shop into the adjacent one and renting out the three remaining spaces.

"I'd like to create a nice, little shopping destination," the West Roxbury resident said Tuesday.

Walsh's expansion will allow her to grow her store's furniture business, which has been booming but limited by space. "We can only currently display about a dozen items," she said.

The project is in its planning and development stage, but she expects it to be completed by the end of the calendar year. Kalembar Dune will remain open throughout the process, she said, while the other storefronts have already been or are soon to be vacated by their current tenants.

Walsh has applied for funding to West Roxbury Main Streets, a non-profit that works to revitalize the city's business district, to improve the building's façade. She also still needs to obtain city permits for part of the project.

The store has been able to flourish in its six years due to its prime location and a larger trend toward more people buying second-hand items, she said.

"Second-hand shopping used to be for people who minded their pennies," Walsh said, "but now it's mainstream."