Bosse pickleball venue opens in Natick Mall’s former Neiman Marcus

The “eatertainment” venture, co-owned by former professional tennis player D.J. Bosse and Boston chef Chris Coombs, will have all its amenities open in four to six weeks, with parts of the facility open sooner. (Coombs is also co-owner of Deuxave, a French restaurant in Back Bay, and Boston Chops steakhouses in the South End and Downtown Crossing. Bosse also has Bosse Sports, a pickleball fitness club in Hyde Park.)
The new Bosse pickleball supercenter, which opened to the public Tuesday, boasts a 100,000 square foot pickleball kingdom, or “pickledom,” with 21 pickleball courts, a fitness center, a pickleball merchandise store, darts, golf simulators, and a sports theater. Also within the premises: an Italian restaurant, a French cafe, courtside dining, a sports bar — and even a child care center.
Just in time for winter, fans of one of the fastest-growing sports have a deluxe new indoor option in the space that formerly housed Neiman Marcus at the Natick Mall.
It’s the “country club of pickleball,” said Adam Franklin, CEO of Stoughton-based Franklin Sports, which is a partner in the venue and sells its pickleball accessories in the merchandise store.
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Adam Franklin of Franklin Sports hits a glow-in-the-dark pickleball that his company developed on a black-lit pickleball court. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Membership options range from $79 to $249 per month depending on the amenities included, while a single day booking costs $50 to $80 for a court reservation and $20 for open play. Child care is available for members at $15 per child per hour for up to two hours.
The venue plans to host tournaments, and the Franklin Sports championship court offers additional seating to accommodate spectators. And, within 90 seconds, Bosse said, the courts can switch to custom black lights for a glow-in-the-dark pickleball experience.
The former Nieman Marcus store at the Natick Mall has been transformed into a pickleball supercenter called Bosse. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Kevin Connell, 60, bought a membership on the spot after a tour of the facility last week. The entrepreneur from Natick said he’s excited to continue playing pickleball indoors through the colder months, calling the courts at Bosse “first class.”
During open play on Tuesday morning, Noah Springer, 42, said he enjoyed the courts and looks forward to the sports bar and lounge opening. Springer, a business owner who lives in Natick, said he’ll certainly be back.
“I could see me and my buddies coming here and lounging around, hanging out, especially if our wives are shopping,” he said.
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The locker rooms feature showers, a steam room, and a cold plunge, and the venue also offers fitness classes and a fitness center with weights and machines. Jennifer Yaro, director of fitness and wellness, said some classes will begin next week, and a full schedule will start at the beginning of next year.
Bosse also aims to be more than just a place to work out.
“It would be majorly disappointing for me for people to come and play pickleball for two hours and then go to Cheesecake Factory for dinner,” Coombs said. “I want to keep them here. I want them in our world as long as I can have them, so in order to do that, we have to do a lot of things and do them really well.”
Fresh pastries and coffee are available at a French cafe inside. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
A cafe selling French pastries, sandwiches, grain bowls, and Stumptown coffee meets visitors at Bosse’s mall entrance. Coombs said he hopes the cafe will attract casual mall traffic, as well as early morning pickleball players: it opens at 6am.
Italian restaurant Enoteca’s will serve fresh pasta and pizza, with a view of the courts that Coombs said will hopefully entice “pickleball curious” diners. The restaurant will open Wednesday night for 100 reservations, then fully open Friday night.
“We feel like this will be the premier Italian restaurant in Metro West, and it just so happens to be in a pickleball facility,” Coombs said.
The 21+ sports bar and lounge, set to open by early next year, includes golf simulators and darts. A ticker displaying betting odds, courtesy of DraftKings, wraps around the bar and across the sports theater, a mini movie theater with a big screen for watching sports games that visitors can rent or reserve a seat in.
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Bosse chef and co-owner Chris Coombs, left, talks with his business partner, D.J. Bosse, in font of a huge video screen in a rentable theatre. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Reservable VIP areas and 200 courtside dining seats put visitors even closer to the action.
And parents hoping to play or dine in peace will be able to drop their kids off at Bosse’s childcare center, licensed to care for 25 children as young as 6 months old.
But Bosse said there’s no reason to leave little ones out of the pickleball fun. Early-stage pickleball programs will be open to kids as young as three or five years old to start learning the game and develop hand-eye coordination. That, he said, is the way to ensure pickleball’s future.
“The future is the growth of pickleball with young kids,” he said. “And so it’s our mission to start that at a very early age and build comprehensive programs so the kids can learn, the kids can develop.”
An area for sitting and relaxing with televisions inside Bosse. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
People played pickleball Tuesday at Bosse in Natick. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Co-owner D.J. Bosse throws a few darts. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
The word ‘play’ made up balls hangs in the atrium of Bosse in Natick. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
A worker completed some finishing touches Tuesday on the women’s locker room sinks. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Stella Tannenbaum can be reached at stella.tannenbaum@globe.com.