NEW AND NOTEWORTHY
The past few months have been particularly busy on the clothing/fashion front in East Nashville.
Just as 2016 was wrapping up, we got news of a new vintage haunt: Black Shag Vintage, now open at 1220 Gallatin Ave., Karen Goodlow Designs’ reborn historic fire hall No. 18, now known as The Station.
At Black Shag, you’ll find vintage clothing, shoes/boots and accessories, with a particular focus on vintage concert T’s — if your heart yearns for a real-deal 1982 Iron Maiden cut-off, good chance this is the place you’ll find it.
The shop’s hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5 Sunday, and Mondays by appointment. For more, visit blackshagvintage.com.
Over at the Shops at Porter East, new women’s fashion destination The Shop by Amelia Styles opened in early February, sharing “women’s clothing that’s current, versatile, and all under $100.”
Founder Millie Leach first launched Amelia Styles as a style blog, which grew into an online retail hub last year, and now, a brick-and-mortar space. She’s open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 to 4 Saturday and Sunday, at 729 Porter Road. You can browse/shop online at ameliastyles.com, too.
Amelia Styles isn’t the only new fashion name at Porter East: At press time, The Mill Boutique — which will also be stocking women’s clothing, accessories, and more — was getting ready to host its grand opening party at 737 Porter Road.
Although The Mill also has internet roots — it’s a self-described “boutique born from Instagram” — this shop isn’t the first physical location. The O.G. Mill Boutique over in The Nations opened in 2015.
To keep up with the latest The Mill news, head to the source: @shopthemill on Instagram.
Back in the July/August issue, we mentioned a new vintage shop called Gunstreet Goods, which was doing some weekend sales-by-appointment visits in a space on Gallatin Pike in Inglewood. As of early February, the shop’s open 11 a.m. through 7 p.m. Tuesday thru Saturday in a different location: 935 Woodland St., beneath High Garden.
Moving from clothing/etc. to the beauty biz, we got another new salon as February kicked off: Rudy’s Barbershop joined Burger UP, Pet Wants Nashville, and others at the Hill Center Five Points, moving into 960 Woodland St.
Rudy’s is a West Coast chain, and the East Nashville shop isn’t their first in Nashville — another location opened late last year in Edgehill Village, too. Their slant is a “rock & roll vibe,” and prices run from short cuts in the $30 range to long cuts in the $40 range, plus color and other services.
East Nashville hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. all week. For more, hit rudysbarbershop.com.
Meanwhile, a longstanding East Side salon unveiled some big changes recently. In January, Platinum Salon’s skincare-providing partners, Glow Skincare, announced a partnership with fellow skincare pros Ona Belle Meade, and a fitting new name to go along with it: Ona Skincare East Nashville.
Ona East Nashville’s still at 1013 Fatherland St., and you can learn more at onaskin.com/east.
With your hair and skin taken care of, here’s a new place to go and show off: Inglewood Lounge, the brainchild of Actual Food’s Dan Forberg, which opened in late January at 3914 Gallatin Pike.
The lounge is open seven days a week, 5 p.m. “until late,” serving an eclectic and globally inspired mix of food (like poutine, veggie curry, tacos), plus cocktails, wine, and beer.
Forberg totally overhauled the space — once a Mrs. Winner’s — in his off-hours, and it now has a cozy, retro vibe that certainly doesn’t betray its humble drumstick-slinging beginnings.
“It’s been a long time in the making,” Forberg said in a release, just ahead of opening day. “After a year and a half of figuring out how to renovate a crummy, old fast food restaurant into a unique and fun spot, I am excited.”
For more, head to inglewoodlounge.com.
Looking for a new place to live in stumbling distance of the Lounge? New “boutique apartment community” The Volta at 4303 Gallatin Pike was getting ready to start leasing for March at press time, with one- and two-bedroom units and rents starting at $1,150 a month. (It won’t just be residential — retail/office space is in the planning, too.) To take a look at the options, visit home.cozy.co/profile/TheVolta.
On the roommate front, Brainfreeze Comics — which traffics in “small press and alternative comics and zines” — recently shacked up inside Gift Horse, at 1006 Fatherland St., #301. The comics spot was hanging out at The Groove for a bit, but the Gift Horse partnership allows more room for their selection of “handmade one-of-akind objects of art to masterfully reissued collections from renowned alternative publishers.”
Shop there 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 10 to 6 on Sunday. More at brainfreezecomics.com.
CLOSINGS AND MOVES
Last issue, we opened this column with news about Wylee’s on Woodland, the rebranded face of the former Mad Donna’s at 1313 Woodland St. That new incarnation ended up being shortlived, as Wylee’s announced a Feb. 13 closure with a printed note posted inside the front door.
“With time comes the necessity to evolve and grow and so we have decided to close our doors . . . to discover that next adventure,” the note read.
If you missed the opening news: Wylee’s was unveiled in December during a TV pilot filming led by Bar Rescue host Jon Taffer and featuring Middle Tennessee-based pop achiever Sheryl Crow. The moniker combines the names of Crow’s two sons, Wyatt and Levi, and the menu unveiled during the filming was stocked with Crow-nodding items, i.e. “‘All I Wanna Do’ is Have Dessert.”
A longtime employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity citing show-related confidentiality agreements, told us restaurant traffic took a nosedive after the rebrand, and that customers were vocal about the themed approach being an ill fit for East Nashville.
Mad Donna’s had been at 1313 Woodland since 2008, taking over the space after the closure of Radio Cafe (now back in action at 4150 Gallatin Pike in Inglewood). No word yet on what may take over the Woodland location.
Also in last issue’s column: News about the opening of an East Nashville outpost of Murfreesboro- bred kids shop The Crazy Kukla Boutique. In this issue: news of a swift and unexpected closure there.
The East Side Kukla opened at 1900 Eastland Ave., Unit 102, last fall, joining the flagship store located on the square in Murfreesboro. In mid-February, owner Kimberly Simpson shared news of both shops’ last days: Feb. 18 for Nashville, March 4 for The Boro. “My personal life is much different now than when we opened the store nearly two years ago and closing is the best decision for my family,” Simpson wrote. The Murfreesboro shop opened in 2015.
Another February shuttering: Porter House Bistro, at 1115 Porter Road, also ended its run. The French-inspired eatery opened in 2014, and over the past year or so, there had been some uncertainty there — last May, chef/ chief Drew Bryant announced that stalled lease negotiations were necessitating a change in address; in July, he announced that the restaurant would be staying put. Things seemed to stabilize before Bryant shared the closure news in February.
“We are so thankful to everyone who has supported us from the start and to our incredible employees for all of their hard work,” he wrote in the announcement.
We haven’t heard any mutterings yet about a new business taking over that space.
At the start of the year, “damn fine candy” makers Walker Creek Confections shuttered their East Nashville shop in the IDEA Hatchery at 1108 Woodland St. We asked owner Cathy McCook about the closure; she said she didn’t have anything more to share, but did want to emphasize that Walker Creek “enjoyed being in East Nashville and serving our customers there.” The East Nashville location opened in mid-2015.
Their artisan toffees/caramels are still readily available in Tennessee — the company’s headquarters are about an hour east of Nashville in Watertown, and they recently opened another location in the Factory at Franklin. You can also shop online at walkercreektoffee.com.
East Nashville sweets shop Chocolate F/X closed its doors in February, after about three years in the Shoppes on Fatherland. Owner Andrea Smith brought her confectionary and special- effects-design skills here from Atlanta, and earned big fans for creative flavors and aesthetics — anything from super-spicy ghost-pepper caramels to chocolate Friday the 13th masks.
“We are eternally grateful to everyone who made it possible for us to serve up scares, sweets, and smiles over the past three years,” Smith wrote in an announcement on social media. “. . . We’ve loved every single minute of it.”
Chocolate F/X’s devotees can still snag Smith’s creations via chocolatefx.net.
Not a food closure, exactly, but a big change: Early in 2017, East Nashville cheese monger Kathleen Cotter announced that her Bloomy Rind Artisan Cheeses, rooming with Porter Road Butcher for the past five years at 501 Gallatin Ave., would be going away, in a sense, as she shifted attention to the wholesale side of her cheese business.
The exit was “in a sense,” since while Cotter won’t be there mongering Wednesdays through Saturdays, her cheeses are still in the house — going forward, PRB is offering a Bloomy Rindpicked selection of cheeses all week.
“I feel both a little sad and very optimistic,” Cotter wrote in an announcement. “Sad because I will miss seeing my awesome customers every day. Optimistic because this step is the next right step (I hope!) in making The Bloomy Rind into a financially sustainable business.”
Not going away: Cotter’s annual Southern Artisan Cheese Festival, expected to return this year.
Another big change for a beloved neighborhood brand: In February, Hey Rooster General Store owner Courtney Webb announced that her shop would be heading west to take over the former Bookman/BookWoman space in Hillsboro Village.
She had been at 1106 Gallatin Ave. since 2013, lining shelves with a broad mix of handmade/ small-batch/curated items, from regionally made food products to textiles printed by Nashville makers.
Webb said in an announcement that while she was torn about leaving East Nashville, the new location had some big pluses for her Hey Rooster vision. “My shop always looked like it should have neighbors sharing walls and people walking on the street outside,” she wrote. “To me, we’re just kinda picking up our little slice of life and placing it down in an environment I always imagined it to be.”
At press time, the new Hey Rooster was set to open in March. Regular updates/online shopping at heyrooster.com.
COMING SOON
Probably the biggest coming-soon news to hit the East Nashville wires recently: a new Hill Center Greenwood development in the works at Gallatin and Greenwood avenues, due to be anchored by a Sprouts Farmers Market.
The project is a long way off — a presentation released in January indicated a fall start for site work, with an intended spring/summer 2019 opening. But the vision has certainly earned a lot of attention.
Along with the proposed Sprouts market (a 29,000-square-foot store), this new Hill Center would include an additional 12,500 square feet of retail/restaurant space, plus 80 residential units and multiple parking lots (151 spaces in the main complex, an additional 76-space parking structure across the street, along with a one-story retail space).
Camille’s Market, the Athlete’s Foot, and Young’s Fashion are currently located where the main Hill Center Greenwood complex would be. If you’d like to explore the plans, head to hghill. com and click on “New Projects.”
Hill Center Greenwood isn’t the only major development in the planning on our side of the river: The New Year also brought news about River North, a 100-plus-acre project on the east bank, set to include residential, retail, office, and entertainment space, plus green space and waterfront activity space.
As envisioned — and alongside the huge Top- Golf entertainment complex that’d be its neighbor — River North would drastically recast that part of town, still far more industrial than residential or commercial (though significant city attention’s been paid to revamping the area in recent years).
The first steps in this massive project are expected soon — Chicago-based Monroe Investment Partners intend to get moving with first phase “The Landings” in the second quarter of 2017.
Learn more/check out renderings at rivernorthnashville.com.
East Nashville may be getting another hotel, too, joining the planned Holiday Jones boutique hotel project on Main Street. The Tennessean reported in January that Bobby and Kathryn Bubis were proposing a 21-suite, short-term vacation rental-style hotel at 931 Main St.
Dubbed Hotel Air BTB, the hotel would be booked using space-sharing site Airbnb, the report said, and prices would be around $500 a night for its four-bedroom, two-bath suites.
The project’s still a distance from being a done deal, and the proposal’s earned concern from some in the community (including District 6 Metro Council member Brett A. Withers, who responded to us via Facebook, “I can’t imagine how a staffless AirBnB hotel on Main Street will not experience crime issues”). But the Bubises are hoping Hotel Air BTB will be up and going next spring.
Other proposed development tidbits: Nashville Post reported that a 110-unit condo project is in the works at 1404 Dickerson Pike (and would include a number of spaces priced at $99,000); and at 1041 East Trinity Lane, work on a condo complex with about 6,000 square feet of commercial space may start early next year.
Near the location of that latter project, we already have some new local businesses putting the finishing touches on their spaces. “Photo studio/ office/art gallery/small venue” Nous Art House and houseplants/seasonal gardening essentials/ home goods shop Flora are taking over separate parts of a 2,000-square-foot, shared space at 305 East Trinity Lane, and at press time, had plans to open their doors in March.
Flora, led by locals Kerbi Howat and Kate Holl, will occupy the storefront facing Trinity, offering specialty houseplants and related items. Nous, behind Flora, will serve as local photographer Ashtin Paige Yetton’s studio. As things ramp up, the three friends expect to host an array of events, from plant workshops to art shows and intimate concerts.
Learn more at floraplantshop.com and ashtinpaige.com.
Although we lost some food purveyors recently, some new ones are on the way.
East Siders Manny Hatz and Josiah Johnson are teaming up to launch The Mainstay, a new restaurant at 501 Main St., most recently home to The Vine (which closed last May).
The plan: a more low-key hang serving “elevated bar food with a farm-to-table concept,” at a $10 to $20 price point. “It’s not supposed to be a finer dining or special occasion-type of restaurant,” Anna-Vija McClain, who’s working on The Mainstay’s branding, told us. “It’s supposed to be more of an everyday-use type of restaurant.”
At press time, April 1 was the planned opening date.
The former home of Perk & Cork, 1304 McGavock Pike, is also in the middle of transforming into a “welcoming, chef-driven eatery, and friendly neighborhood destination for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch” called Fort Louise.
Inglewood resident Jessica Bower — who opened clothing, accessories, and home goods Boutique Steluta at 1601B Riverside Drive last fall — is the brains behind Fort Louise, which is named in honor of Louise Clark Fort, the mother of East Side airpark namesake Cornelia Fort.
She has a “substantial interior remodel” in the works, and intends to build out a full back porch to create a space for “prime al fresco dining and drinking in the warmer months.”
In charge of the Fort Louise kitchen: Chicago chef Greg Biggers, the current executive chef at the Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile’s Cafe des Architectes. The Alabama native has a serious pedigree — he’s done time at famed restaurants like Morimoto in Philadelphia, TRU in Chicago, and McCrady’s in Charleston. He’ll be maintaining his Cafe des Architectes position as he takes on the new Nashville project.
Perk & Cork was in business for about a year at that location before it closed last October; before that, vintage shop Old Made Good called the space home.
Come spring, new local craft beer/food spot Preservation Ale House should be joining the historic Morris Jacobs Building at 307B Wilburn St., in McFerrin Park.
The restaurant’s co-owners, Pat Isbey and Jeff Bergman, are both locals, and told the Nashville Post that they plan to “assimilate within the neighborhood as opposed to simply operating our business there.” Bergman’s set to be in charge of the brewing, with Isbey — someone regular Station Inn-goers might remember as the head of Jimmy Carl’s Lunchbox — leading the kitchen’s Korean-influenced menu.
Stay tuned by likingfacebook.com/preservationalehouse.
On the working-off-the-calories front, the former Horner Rausch Optical Co. space at 968 Main St. is set to be home to a new health and wellness stop, with Marathon Pilates, bWELL Massage, and P3nashville combining forces.
Marathon Pilates already has a 12 South location, and P3nashville (which offers physical therapy, massage, nutrition services, and more) has a West End space. bWELL is a new brand from longtime LMT Lisa Brown, who’ll have a private massage space and “full complement of equipment.”
On Instagram, the Marathon folks called the new East Side team-up a “grand adventure,” and said, “Together we will be working to improve alignment, balance (and) movement efficiency, and to optimize whole-body health.”
Work was humming along on the new location at press time — explore more ahead of their opening at marathonpilates.com, p3nashville.com, and bwellmassage.com.