After almost two years without a tenant, 187 Elm St. in Davis Square is going to a bakery that has been open on Somerville Avenue since 2022. Yafa Bakery & Café plans to make the former Posto restaurant its second location, and founder Abdullah Awad told the Cambridge | Somerville Independent that the original café at 594 Somerville Ave. will stay open.
This address has a habit. Over and over, it goes to operators who already proved themselves nearby, and the storefront's history explains why Yafa fits the pattern.
A storefront that keeps getting handed between local operators
The Independent's report lists the tenants at 187 Elm St. over roughly five decades. In the order the paper gives them:
- Steve's, the ice cream shop where Steve Herrell came up with mixing candy and other ingredients into ice cream in 1973
- Carberry's Bakery and Coffee House, which arrived after expanding from Cambridge's Central Square
- O'Naturals
- Boloco, the burrito and smoothie chain
- The Green Tomato, serving seasonal American fare
- Posto, pizza and Italian food for 13 years, until it relocated to Assembly Square in November 2024
- Yafa Bakery & Café, planned
The first entry deserves a careful note. The Independent ties the Steve's story to 187 Elm. Older local histories confirm the larger story without giving a street number. Cambridge Day wrote in 2009 that Herrell opened the original Steve's Ice Cream in Davis Square in 1973, "on Elm Street." A 2017 Somerville Times history column credits his customized "fix-ins" with helping put Davis Square on the map. That makes the exact address the Independent's account, not settled history.
The rest of the list follows a clear pattern. Carberry's came from Central Square. Posto spent more than a decade on Elm Street and then took its following to Assembly Square, so it stayed in Somerville. Now a Ward 2 bakery is moving into the space Posto left. The storefront keeps changing hands among businesses already known in this part of Greater Boston, and Yafa is the latest of them.
Why this vacancy registered
Posto moved out in November 2024. By the Independent's count, the Elm Street space had been empty for 1.8 years when Yafa's plan became public in September 2026.
Elaine Almquist, president of the Davis Square Neighborhood Council, told the Cambridge | Somerville Independent that the news answers a familiar complaint:
"A big complaint is that we'd love to see our empty storefronts filled, so it's very exciting."
Her words "our empty storefronts" refer to the square in general, not just this address. Any one fill matters more because of that.
What Yafa brings over from Somerville Avenue
Yafa opened on Somerville Avenue in 2022. At opening, Eater Boston described a case of Mediterranean pastry: chocolate-covered dates, honey-soaked buns, crispy kanafeh, qairawan date pastries, Jerusalem bread, za'atar and butter bread. That same month, the Boston Globe singled out the Jerusalem sesame-ring bread, za'atar twists, mataro, qairawan, almond tartlets and lemonada.
Two years later, Boston magazine named Yafa its 2024 Best Bakery. It praised the pastries, breads and date confections, the Palestinian and wider Middle Eastern influences, and the mint lemonada.
Awad's own story shapes the place. A 2023 Palate & Palette interview says he grew up in Beit Safafa in Jerusalem, learned to cook in his mother's kitchen and bakes from family recipes. It also describes him as an artist who works in both food and visual art. In a 2025 WBUR Cognoscenti essay, a customer described the bakery as a Palestinian-owned community space and wrote about Awad's generosity and the hospitality behind the counter.
The Independent also mentioned customer service in its first sentence. It called Yafa "famous for its Mediterranean pastry and the kindness of its customer service." Herrell turned the same spot into a destination by letting customers build their own scoop. Five decades later, the newest tenant is known as much for how it treats people as for what it serves.
What hasn't been announced yet
As of mid-October 2026, nobody should be planning a first visit. According to the Independent, Awad visited the site on Sept. 11, and staff later confirmed the expansion was still going ahead, but no other details were available. What Now Boston also reported the expansion on Sept. 25 and gave no opening date.
The City of Somerville's Licensing Commission document index is the public place to watch for the next step. When we checked, its newest listed meeting was Sept. 15, 2026, and we found no posted action on the Davis Square site. Until a date is announced, 187 Elm stays empty.
Where Davis Square's fall is happening in the meantime
While the corner waits, most of the square's fall activity is in its shared outdoor spaces and its long-running venues. Down in Davis is the program that books music and markets into the Plaza, Statue Park and nearby businesses, and its October 2026 schedule still has several dates left.
The Plaza and Statue Park
- Oct. 16, 3 to 8 p.m. Vermont DJ So:jun plays the Plaza as part of the Small Mart vintage and handmade market. From 5 to 8 p.m., Heyssis performs R&B and pop at Statue Park for Alive at Five. Heyssis was moved from Oct. 2.
- Oct. 17, 2 to 4 p.m. Super Pink plays the Plaza with The Somerville Foundation.
- Oct. 23, 3 to 8 p.m. The Small Mart returns to the Plaza with ENSMB's Balkan-inspired brass and a set from Rich Wentworth.
Bars and backrooms
- Oct. 18, 4 to 6:30 p.m. Nuala O'Donovan and Somerville art-punk band Sidebody play Underbones.
- Oct. 18, 5 to 8 p.m. Evan Greer leads a Dolly Parton sing-along with a house band at The Burren. This Alive at Five show was moved from Sept. 25.
Two of these shows have already been rescheduled once, so check the Down in Davis page before you head out.
Farmers market
- The Davis Square Farmers Market runs every Wednesday through Nov. 25: Oct. 14, 21 and 28, then Nov. 4, 11, 18 and 25. It sets up in the municipal lot next to Davis Square Plaza, across from American Flatbread.
Holiday Craft Fair
- The Davis Square Holiday Craft Fair runs Oct. 17 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Somerville Community Baptist Church, 31 College Ave. The Somerville Times listing promises Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas gifts, raffles, food gift baskets and a meatball contest.
Somerville Theatre
- The theatre's calendar carries the season to the end of the year. The Rocky Horror Picture Show screens in 35mm with a shadowcast on Oct. 31 at 8 p.m. Le Vent du Nord plays Nov. 7 at 8 p.m., and the Boston Comedy Festival Contest Finals take over Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. The Slutcracker runs Dec. 4 and 5 at 8 p.m. and Dec. 6 at 4 p.m.
Most of this calendar takes place in public squares, a parking lot, pubs, a church and a movie theater. The storefronts on Elm Street are mostly backdrop this fall. That makes the Yafa news count for more. When the bakery opens, 187 Elm St. adds a daytime counter to a corner that has spent this season dark while the music went on outside.
If you own near Davis Square and wonder how a corner like 187 Elm shapes your block's appeal, Samantha Berdinka tracks those changes street by street in Somerville. Get your instant home valuation and see where your home stands while the next tenant moves in.
