NEW AND NOTEWORTHY
HAVE YOU GOTTEN BORED WITH national publications praising our neighborhood’s offerings on the restaurant front? Gird yourself — East Nashville’s only becoming more and more of a top stop for shopping, too, so it might get worse before it gets better. Early spring brought a bunch of new shops to the neighborhood, and it doesn’t sound like summer/fall should be too shabby on that front, either.
Just as winter was wrapping up, the Porter East space that was once home to Vinnie Louise’s women’s wear moved in a masculine direction: men’s clothing boutique Jack Randall — “where basics are born and style is bred” — now calls 729 Porter home. The shop stocks everything from laidback jeans and T’s to dressed-up buttonups and boots, and is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. For more, check out jackrandall.com.
A recent addition to the Shoppes on Fatherland: Illinois-bred Galena Garlic Company, whose gourmet spice blends, rubs, and seasonings, and ultrapremium extra virgin olive oils are now up for grabs at 1000 Fatherland St. The small chain has multiple Midwest locations, but this is the first Tennessee shop. Local shop leader Nina Marton told us that a 2013 visit quickly locked in a draw toward our neighborhood.
“I noticed the sense of community in East Nashville immediately,” she said. “We have stores in a lot of small towns. None of them are as big as Nashville, yet there was such a strong culture in the East Nashville neighborhood. It was something that I have never felt in any of the other towns that we have our businesses in.” Awwww, shucks.
While yes, you will find Galena’s titular garlic on shelves (it’s grown in Illinois, though hopes are to get some Tennessee garlic in the ground down the line), the spice blends and seasonings really underline the Galena Garlic intent: to make gourmet cooking more approachable.
“We want to make cooking easy,” Marton said. “No one has time to cook these days so we have the blends and seasonings ready for you to sprinkle on to meat, fish, or vegetables. No recipes needed, keeping everything super simple so people are not intimidated in the kitchen.”
The shop is open Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more, visit Galena Garlic Nashville on Facebook at www.facebook. com/galenagarlicnashville.
In mid-April, HGTV star Lex LeBlanc — cohost of the new, Nashville-based renovation show Listed Sisters — opened the doors at her new East Nashville homestuff hub, LAVA Home Design.
The space, at 1601 Riverside Drive (next to Pied Piper Eatery), serves as the home base for LeBlanc’s interior design firm of the same name and is stocked with highstyle furniture and other bits and pieces that’ll help get a home fit for prime time.
“We’ll carry an eclectic mix of furniture and home decor in all different price ranges, so there will be something for everyone,” LeBlanc told us of the new shop. “It’s a place to find everything you need for your home, from sofas to dining tables, or just the finishing touches.”
The new show she hosts with twin sister/ realtor Alana LeBlanc Barnett is in the middle of its first season, airing Mondays at 7 p.m. (We’ve already seen multiple East Nashville homes in this debut season, and word is we may see more, too.)
For more on the shop and the sisters LeBlanc, visit lavahomedesign.com.
New creative/maker space The Warren hosted its grand opening in early April at 1002 Fatherland St., Suite 201, during that month’s installment of the East Side Art Stumble.
In addition to being a full-time studio for five Nashville artists (Hannah Beasley, Ava Puckett, Rebecca Green, Zie Darling, and Kayla Stark), The Warren was created to also serve as a workshop home, gallery space, pop-up-shop stop, and community events hub.
For more, visit thewarrennashville.com. In mid-March, new health and wellness store Be Well Nashville hosted its grand opening celebration at the Shoppes on Fatherland (1006 Fatherland St., Suite 104). The shop stocks supplements, essential oils, herbal cleanses, and more, along with hosting regular wellness events. It’s open noon-6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
More at bewellnash.com.
Congrats are due to the folks behind stylish East Nashville kids shop Rich Hippies, which branched out in April, opening a second space in Germantown. (The East Side location is at 725 Porter Road.)
CLOSINGS AND MOVES
IN MARCH, VINTAGE/CONSIGNMENT shop Hang the Moon, previously located at 1108 Gallatin, split in half, in a manner of speaking.
Building damage, owner Susan Moon said, made her “have to mosey,” so Hang the Moon moved in with some like-minded neighbors. Moon’s everyday vintage stuff now lives upstairs in the Hen House at Hey Rooster General Store (1106 Gallatin Ave.); her more fancy “stage pieces” are up for grabs at Pony Show (723 Porter Road).
In late March, Fat Crow Press moved from The Idea Hatchery to the Art and Invention Gallery, a swap that owner Julie Sola told us would bring some fun corresponding changes. “I will be able to work with (Art and Invention owners) Bret and Meg (MacFadyen) on workshops and new events,” she said. “I will start giving Lino carving classes and fabric printing workshops. I will still organize my annual Proto Pulp Children’s book show and my printmaker festival plus a few new events to take place in the Idea Hatchery courtyard.” Crafty bead-slingers Red Dog Beads took over the old Fat Crow space, at 1108 Woodland St., Unit D.
Nest 615 Antiques & Vintage did some bouncing around in East Nashville — it was on Fatherland, then on Gallatin. It bounced again recently, though this time out of the neighborhood. The shop, which carries vintage and reimagined furniture and home goods, recently moved up to Madison, at 213 Brawner Ave.
Artisan chocolatier Chocolate F/X also changed locations, but East Nashville hasn’t lost owner Andrea Smith’s sweettasting and sweet-looking creations. She’s just moved a few doors down, from 1006 Fatherland to 1004 Fatherland St., Suite 101.
Her Fatherland District neighbors at spoil-your-pet palace Baxter Bailey & Co. made a similar short move, from 1006 Fatherland to 1002 Fatherland St., Suite 102.
Eyewear/optical shop Specs Optical closed its doors at 224 S. 11th St. in late April. The shop launched back in 2003, and was formerly located in Green Hills, but came our way in 2013.
Moxie Fearless Furnishings — the stylish home goods/furniture shop that called the Fatherland District home for a good minute — also shuttered in late April. Co-owner (and Emmy-winning art director) Elaine Hensley told us work’s been increasingly busy with Art Dogs Props, the film production company she and partner Scott Moore helm.
“We are committed to that first,” she said. That business is based in Wedgewood- Houston, and we may see pop-up shops and the like from the team over on that side of town, with our same eclectic, unexpected, modern vibe. No word yet on what’ll take over their space at 1006 Fatherland St., Suite 303.
COMING SOON
THE SPACE THAT ONCE HELD BELOVED Riverside Village sushi-and-more haunt Watanabe is set to see new life at long last: Dose Coffee and Tea plans to open a second location there, with nearly double the square footage of the flagship West Nashville shop.
Proprietors Keith Steunebrink and Heath Henley told us the new Dose at 1400 McGavock Pike should be open by early June. And although it’ll echo its older sister’s clean, minimal design and foundation in quality coffee, we should see some special East Nashville touches.
22 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM May | June 2016 Steunebrink and Henley hope the larger kitchen will set the stage for expanded food menu offerings — including a broader from-scratch bakery haul, and according to Steunebrink, “a fairly small, but well-curated, small-plates menu” in the evenings, plus weekend brunches, for starters.
That should include table service, plus a beer and wine (and potentially spirits) program, and they aim to grow from there. For more, visit dosecoffeeandtea.com.
Also this summer, we’re expecting to see the doors open at new boutique cycling studio Verticity, located in the new Farrow at Five Points development at 10th and Russell.
At 1010 Russell, coleaders Lindsay Brooker and Kimberly Novosel said we’ll be able to break a sweat via workouts and cycle-centric classes (plans were for about 30 bikes and dressing rooms with showers), and eye/buy a line of fitness apparel and accessories.
Verticity should be one of several businesses setting up shop at the mixedused Farrow at Five Points, which includes 16 brownstone-style two- and three-story residences and three commercial spaces. For more, visit verticitynashville.com.
More to look forward to this summer: Greko Street Food — serving “classic Greek street food, with an emphasis on the meats that make it so distinct” — is aiming to open at 704 Main. That building was most recently an office supplies place. Keep up with the restaurant’s progress at grekostreetfood.com.
Speaking of looking forward: The former Lost Century vintage space at 1011 Gallatin is set to become the home of Look East Eyecare and Eyewear. Opening date is likely a little ways off, but things are moving along — last update we caught from Look East leader/Doctor of Optometry Kathleen Brasfield (in March) said designs were complete, awaiting Codes approval. Keep up with Look East’s progress at lookeastnashville.com.
Andy and Chad Baker — the brothers behind The Dog Spot, Spot’s Pet Supply and other local businesses — shared news in April that a Smoothie King franchise is in the works for their property at 2803 Gallatin Pike. No word on an opening timeframe yet.
At press time, Nashville real estate company Rudy Title & Escrow was looking at July for the opening of the reimagined multiuse space at 608 Shelby. That location was previously home to the Eastview Church of Christ.