Yes, Clover Will Take Over the Hi-Fi Pizza Space

As rumored yesterday, the newest Clover brick-and-mortar location will indeed be in the Central Square space that until recently house Hi-Fi Pizza. Founder Ayr Muir confirmed the news with Eater today, estimating that at the very earliest, it could open in July, but more realistically, it'd probably be September or October.

Design-wise, "we try to learn a little each time," he said, noting that the recently-opened Kendall Square location is their best yet, so some of those ideas will be incorporated into the new one. Muir's been thinking a lot about the space's past life — the corner portion was once an old drugstore with marble floors — and how best to use the two connected rooms; one might be a good space to host pop-ups and other events. Due to the needs of the neighborhood, the hope is for late hours — or even a 24-hour license, if the city would allow it.

On the Clover blog, Muir shares a bit about why Central Square is special to him, from a 1990s Morphine show at the World's Fair to countless shows at the Middle East.

"The point: I love Central Square. I have for a lot of my life at this point. And I've always felt pretty defensive of Central...Central is definitely dirtier than other squares in Cambridge. It's a hodge podge of businesses. Not all of those businesses are high end. OK, maybe none of them. There's nothing sanitized about the Central Square experience. And I think this aspect of Central is probably what I find myself defending. Central feels less like Boston, more like New York. And like New York it's a beautiful, if messy, collision of different types of people from different walks of life. And there is something invigorating about that. Central has room for everybody and I've always loved that egalitarianism at work."