There is a business opening on Park Street this month that will not tell you its address. Not because it is hard to find. Because until you are a member, the owners would rather you not go looking.
That business is The Hidden Parlor, a private clubhouse built around American Mahjong, and its arrival caps a run of new storefronts that have quietly reshaped a few blocks of downtown Andover over the past ten months. A Thai-Vietnamese kitchen took over a Park Street address in January. A Mexican grill with two other locations chose South Main Street in October. Now a membership-only game parlor with a waitlist stretching across New England is set to open a few doors down. None of these businesses needed Andover. They chose it.
A private clubhouse for a very public game
American Mahjong has been having a moment nationally, and The Hidden Parlor Society is betting that Andover residents want somewhere to play it that isn't someone's dining room table. The space will hold 11 Mahjong tables with seating for up to 44 players, including two automatic shuffling tables, spread across a 3,800-square-foot space on Park Street. Open play runs by reservation, and membership is structured in four annual tiers named for the traditional Mahjong wind tiles: South, West, North and East, reflecting different levels of participation.
Heather Forrest Gagnon, the club's founding general manager, framed the appeal in a way that lands differently in 2026 than it might have a decade ago.
"In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and screens, there's a renewed appreciation for experiences that feel tangible. Mahjong carries a sense of nostalgia while bringing people together across generations."
That's not marketing filler. It's the actual premise the business is built on: comfortable lounges for reading or conversation between games, a quiet room for Zoom calls, and a boutique featuring Mahjong sets, accessories, gifts alongside the tables themselves.
The address is quiet. The demand isn't.
Here's the part that's harder to explain away as a niche hobby shop. Since opening its waitlist, The Hidden Parlor has attracted interest from players across Massachusetts and throughout New England. This isn't a club stocking up on local regulars. Gagnon has said outright that the club expects to draw from well beyond town lines, telling local press she looks forward to "welcoming players from Andover and throughout New England."
A private clubhouse that draws a regional waitlist before it has finished installing tables is an unusual thing to land on a small-town Main Street. It's the kind of business that could have opened in Boston's Seaport or a Newton storefront and still filled every membership tier. It opened on Park Street instead.
Two doors that opened first
The Hidden Parlor isn't arriving into a vacuum. It's the third notable storefront change on this same short stretch of downtown in under a year, and the two that came before it tell you something about who else is willing to bet on this block.
| Business | Address | Opened | What it replaced or represents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bandoleros Mexican Grill | 429 S. Main St. | October 2025 | Former Tavern on 28 space |
| Khao San | 36 Park St. | January 2026 | New concept, no prior tenant noted |
| The Hidden Parlor | Park St. (address undisclosed until membership) | August 2026 | New concept |
Khao San is a Thai-Vietnamese fusion restaurant that opened at 36 Park Street, blending authentic Vietnamese pho with Thai-inspired flavors. Owner Joy Chonticha has said the goal is a menu that works for both longtime Southeast Asian food fans and people trying it for the first time.
Bandoleros Mexican Grill opened at 429 South Main Street in the space formerly occupied by Tavern on 28, and it's the third location for the Bandoleros group, joining spots in Devens and Concord. That detail matters more than it looks. A restaurant group doesn't pick a third location at random. Owners Elmer and Delmy Meléndez brought a signature touch with them: tortillas milled in-house using blue heirloom corn from Oaxaca, the kind of detail a group only invests in when they expect a location to stick around.
A downtown paying attention to itself
New storefronts alone don't make a pattern. What makes this one worth noticing is that it's happening alongside a string of civic moments that all point the same direction: toward downtown, and toward people actually showing up there.
In May 2026, an estimated 4,000-pound German cannon was returned to The Park on May 13 after an 18-month restoration project, a piece of town history that had been removed for work the day after Christmas in 2024. The work wasn't outsourced. Students at Greater Lawrence Technical School put the final restoration touches on the century-old cannon before it went back on display just ahead of Memorial Day.
Andover Recreation's Wednesday night concert series has become an established summer fixture downtown, and September brings Andover Day, the town's largest event, coordinated by the Andover Chamber, where more than 10,000 people join more than 250 local vendors. Local business owners have noticed the pull. One told Andover News plainly: "Andover is the envy of the surrounding communities and a wonderful destination."
None of this guarantees The Hidden Parlor fills all 44 seats by Labor Day. But it explains why a members-only game club with a New England-wide waitlist would look at Park Street and see an opening instead of a risk. A restaurant group already running two other locations doesn't gamble on a slow block. Neither does a hospitality concept banking on people driving in from out of town.
What this actually looks like this month
If you're downtown in August, expect to see all three storefronts in some stage of activity at once. The Hidden Parlor is targeting an August opening on Park Street, with open play available by reservation and plans to eventually run seven days a week. Khao San has been open since January and keeps regular lunch and dinner hours seven days a week. Bandoleros has been serving South Main Street since last fall and stays open into the evening every night of the week.
Taken together, they're not three unrelated openings. They're evidence that a specific stretch of downtown Andover has started attracting the kind of business that could locate almost anywhere and chose here instead. That's worth knowing if you already call this town home, and it's the kind of texture that never quite makes it into a listing description.
If you want more of what's changing block by block in Andover, our earlier look at a local's summer in Andover covers the Wednesday concert series and the farmers market's twentieth season in more detail. You can also browse the full Andover neighborhood guide for a broader sense of the town.
Whenever you're ready to talk about what any of this means for buying or selling in Andover, the team at DiPietro Group Real Estate is happy to walk through it. Schedule a free buyer or seller consultation whenever the time is right.
