The idea for the Barre Social Club germinated in Nick Allen’s mind over more than a decade of upheavals. His wife, Cat, worked for a software company that relocated them as often as every three months. The Atlanta-area couple lived in nine states and Puerto Rico over an 11-year period, with few opportunities to make lasting friendships.
During that transient phase of their lives, Nick worked remotely, setting up his laptop wherever he could find a table, chair and reliable Wi-Fi connection, in libraries, coffee shops, bakeries and pizza parlors. But he envisioned something better: a coworking place that doubles as a so-called “third space,” or gathering spot outside one’s home and workplace.
After Cat’s work brought them to Montpelier in 2021, she found a new job with a different software company, and the couple decided to put down roots. They settled in Barre in summer 2022 and fell in love with the city.
“We think this is a great place to live, and we’re excited about its future,” said Nick, 40, who manages the business. “And because we moved so much and never got tied to one place, we needed to invest ourselves in our new community.”
That investment is the Barre Social Club, the Granite City’s new coworking space for freelancers, gig workers, independent contractors and other officeless laborers. As the name implies, the business doesn’t limit itself to nine-to-five, employment-related activities.
Located in a historic 2,900-square-foot storefront on North Main Street that was once a Woolworths, the Barre Social Club is one of half a dozen new businesses that the city’s young entrepreneurs have opened in recent years, breathing new life, energy and community pride into the once-depleted downtown.
On a weekday afternoon in February, a smattering of club members gazed intently at their laptops while soft jazz lilted unobtrusively in the background. The ambience of the bright and airy room suggested a combination of an Ivy League library and a 1920s speakeasy: large wooden tables, Persian rugs, coal-colored wainscoting, recessed bookshelves, comfy sofas, and secluded nooks for holding meetings and conference calls.
Why call it a social club?
“We knew we had to be unique and couldn’t survive on just coworking,” Nick explained, referring to a business model that is common in much larger cities — think Hula or Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies in Burlington — but has just begun to appear in Vermont cities and towns outside Chittenden County. “And because we moved around so much, we never allowed ourselves to go out and meet new people.”
To make that easier, the couple sought to create a place where people can also congregate after work and meet those with shared interests for art talks, trivia and game nights, political fundraisers, wine tastings, and other informal gatherings.
In addition to the coworking membership, which starts at $179 per month, the club offers an after-hours social membership for $50 per month and hosts free and low-cost public events. On a recent visit, a chalkboard listed a book club, a movie night, a Barre business mixer and a gathering of the networking group Vermont Womenpreneurs. Just inside the front door, a small retail shop sells Vermont-made goods such as pieces from Farmhouse Pottery and Ursa Major skin care products, as well as stickers and T-shirts that read “Granite City” and “Believe in Barre.” None of the shop’s merchandise is available in other downtown businesses, Nick said.
“To be able to work and meet people in a place like this … I find it very inspiring and motivating.” Shannon Alexander
“The Allens are geniuses,” said Shannon Alexander, a local photographer who also serves as marketing manager for the Barre Partnership, a community revitalization group. She is among the 50 people who have joined the Barre Social Club since it opened in late January, exceeding the Allens’ expectations. “They’re just so capable of vision and design and community-mindedness.”
A Barre native, Alexander moved away to work in the hospitality industry in San Francisco and New York City and later returned to raise her kids. Though she didn’t like Barre when she was growing up, she said she found a hipper, more creative vibe upon her return.
Alexander had set up her laptop at the back of the storefront, in a room with exposed brick walls, the original tin ceiling, a long wooden bar and a kitchen prep area that’s concealed behind a hidden bookshelf door. The space, which previously housed the Vermont Bicycle Shop, now can be used as coworking space, as a venue for pub-like events or as a rental area for parties.
The bar will come in handy: Now that the Barre Social Club has its liquor license, the Allens, who lease the storefront, can supplement their income with beer tastings, wine pairings and private affairs with bar service.
Club members can get charcuterie and cheese boards when the bar is open on Friday and Saturday nights. The club is also serving a Saturday brunch from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Open to the public, it features a small menu of Southern-inspired dishes such as chicken and waffles, biscuits with jam, and butter and grits. Upcoming dinner events include a supper club starting on April 5 with a four-course meal prepared by Stefano Coppola at nearby Pearl Street Pizza.
“I’m a very aesthetic and visual person,” Alexander said. “To be able to work and meet people in a place like this, where I’m constantly working on creative projects, I find it very inspiring and motivating.”
Alexander pointed to this and other businesses that have sprouted recently downtown — AR Market, Tally pool hall, Slowpoke Exchange and Foxy’s café — as signs that Barre is putting its blemished reputation in the rearview mirror and attracting a new generation of entrepreneurs.
“There’s a lot of new energy and enthusiasm,” she added, “and it’s coming from young people who know that Barre is not really a scary place.”
The original print version of this article was headlined “Third-Space Odyssey | Barre Social Club offers a new coworking spot and after-hours hangout in the Granite City”
This article appears in Mar 12-18, 2025.
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