First permanent Friends-themed coffee shop Central Perk opens in Boston, honouring late Chandler actor Matthew Perry
- The first permanent Central Perk coffee shop has a menu featuring blends named after some of the Friends catchphrases, and a replica of the show’s orange sofa
- The opening of the shop in Boston, US, was delayed to this month because of the death of one of the sitcom’s stars, Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing
After years of buzzy pop-ups, the Central Perk coffee shop in hit comedy Friends opened its first permanent real-life location in Boston, in the US, this week.
The store will roll out additional sleeves that have quotes from the show’s other main characters Rachel, Ross, Monica, Phoebe and Joey.
Over the past several years, pop-up versions of Central Perk appeared in New York and Los Angeles. Warner Bros Discovery has used the pop-ups as a way to promote Friends, which is streaming on its platform Max.
The 2,600 sq ft (240 square metre) location is on Newbury Street in Boston, one of the city’s main thoroughfares. Its coffee menu was curated by celebrity chef, restaurateur and Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio, according to the store’s website.
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Its blends, some of which have been for sale online, are named after some of the show’s famous catchphrases, such as Pivot Blend and How You Doin’?
A replica of the orange sofa from the show sits inside the new store, along with a neon sign fashioned to spell “The one with …”, a reference to the formatted titles of each Friends episode. The store’s hallway is set with an image of a gold chicken and duck, drawing from Chandler and Joey’s pets in the show.
“It’s not about creating a replica of it, it’s really looking at what it would look like today,” Glen Coben, the store’s architect, told People. “It’s a modern interpretation of what a coffee shop or Central Perk would look like in 2024.”
The store had planned to open in October, until Perry died suddenly on October 28 at age 54. The actor was found unresponsive in his hot tub. Investigators are still determining what caused his death.
