POSH Means More Than Just Fancy

by Kelsey Wynn

May 7, 2019 – SCRANTON – Joshua Mast and Paul Blackledge, owners of POSH at the Scranton Club, began the POSH brand when they left fashion careers in New York City 10 years ago to renovate and open the Colonnade. The Colonnade was three years old and had begun turning away business when the Scranton Club became available for purchase. Mast and Blackledge, with their interest in private events, were immediately drawn to the space.

“We thought, ‘We’ll open a restaurant! Wouldn’t that be fun?’” Mast said.

The POSH brand quickly turned into more than just a restaurant, however. After purchasing the former Scranton Club, Mast and Blackledge completed a six-month cosmetic renovation of the building in 2011.

POSH now offers an upscale American bistro restaurant that serves lunch Wednesday through Saturday, and Sunday brunch. The City Hall Bar is situated within the restaurant, named for its window view onto The Municipal Building of Scranton. The Fashion Lounge, full of memorabilia from Mast and Blackledge’s life in the fashion industry, hosts small, private events. The Oak Bar was formerly the smoking room of the Scranton Club and now mimics that ambiance, furnished in old oak panelling. The bar hosts live music on Friday and Saturday nights, ranging from acoustic two-man bands to full DJ sets.

 POSH also houses two second-floor ballrooms, where Mast said there is no shortage of party and event options available.

“We do everything from small parties of six or more to weddings and social functions of over 250 people. We do bridal showers, we do baby showers, we do anniversary parties, we do birthdays, we do graduations, class reunions – you name it, we pretty much do it,” Mast said, then paused. “Fundraisers!” he added, laughing.

Despite the range of services already offered at POSH, Mast said he and Blackledge are always looking for new and bigger projects. In fact, the POSH brand has recently expanded to provide floral services, catering and even sells pillows garnished in a Scranton-themed fabric that the owners designed themselves. The brand’s executive chef, Sean Keeney, prepares a pop-up restaurant at the Colonnade with a different theme the first Monday of every month.

POSH’s owners, who live on the third floor of the Colonnade, believe in the importance of community involvement and connections as a brand.

“We’re both on a lot of different downtown things. Paul’s president of the Scranton Shakespeare Festival, I’m president of Scranton Tomorrow and I’m also on the Chamber board,” Mast said. “There’s weeks when sometimes I feel like I don’t leave a two-block radius between [POSH] and the Colonnade, back and forth. But it’s so nice when people are like ‘We see you walking up and down the street. Oh, we see you mowing your lawn.’”

Today, Mast said, the POSH brand is much more than simply a fancy restaurant.

“POSH originally meant Port Out Starboard Home, and when you would travel by steamship you would ask for POSH accommodations. POSH was kind of fancy because you had to have money to travel by steamship, but,” Mast said, “do you know that POSH means Paul and Josh?”

Visit https://poshscranton.com/ for more information on menus, events and other POSH services.