Barret Avenue Turns the Corner

 

“I’m into a different style of girl than the Nitty Gritty,” Sayger explains. “They are bigger and have a little bit of everything. That does make me more careful about what I stock, but I don’t think it’s a problem having two consignment stores on the same block. In the end, if they do well, I think the foot traffic is better for everyone.”

 

Sayger’s attitude pervades Barret Avenue, which is slowly developing into a thriving retail corridor between Winter Avenue and Breckinridge Street. The area boasts not only two consignment stores, but three restaurants, two furniture stores, a gift shop, an art gallery and a tattoo parlor, among other businesses. The unique thing is that the small businesses in the area seem to be rooting for one another. Michelle Schwartz, owner of the furniture-design business Mueble, Inc., says the fact that Barret Avenue is surrounded on either side by homes gives the commercial strip a sense of community.  

 

“What attracted me to Barret Avenue was that it is affordable and it is much more neighborhood oriented than other places I looked at,” Schwartz says. “It is close to Bardstown Road, but you don’t have the problems of Bardstown Road like the traffic and the bars. The people who live in the neighborhoods around here frequent these shops. During Christmas they came here before they went to the malls. That kind of support is important when you’re trying to grow a business.” 

 

Mueble, Acorn, and the Revelry Boutique Gallery, 980 Barret Avenue, have been around less than a year. But Steve Magre, President of the German-Paristown Neighborhood Association, says they are part of a cycle of economic growth taking place in Germantown on Barret and Goss avenues for the last couple of years, despite the economic downturn. He credits the influx of new businesses with keeping the home prices up in Germantown and making it one of the top destinations in the city for new home buyers. 

 

“What is significant is the nature of these businesses,” Magre says. “These are not cookie-cutter establishments. These are individual entrepreneurs with unique concepts that really add to the character of the neighborhood. People like to live next to destination points.”

 

According to Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator Tony Lindauer, the number of home sales in the Germantown area increased from 31 to 51 from October 2009 through October 2010. Lindauer says there was greater growth in the Schnitzelburg area (across Goss Avenue from Germantown) which has a larger supply of homes. Since the Cherokee Triangle became a landmark preservation area in 1975, Lindauer says, property values in the area have continued to rise. In recent years, he says, property owners who wanted the amenities of the Highlands but could not afford to buy there have been moving to surrounding neighborhoods, including Germantown. 

 

The original anchor for the current development on Barret Avenue was undoubtedly Lynn’s Paradise Cafe, 984 Barret Avenue. Lynn Winter opened the restaurant on Frankfort Avenue in 1991 but then moved it to Barret 18 years ago because of the affordable real estate and its close proximity to the Highlands. Before Lynn’s relocated, the now-defunct Barret Bar was the area’s biggest draw. Today, the wait to get into Lynn’s – especially for Sunday brunch – drives customers into the shops on Barret Avenue. Winter says this is proof that a small collective of business owners can make a big change in a neighborhood.

 

“People don’t remember, but when we first opened on Frankfort Avenue, that street was a little scary,” Winter says. “Look what it has become now.  I see the same thing happening on Barret Avenue. There are things that opened and closed over the years, but the area has picked up and has a lot of room to grow. It’s got that kind of funky feeling. Whenever small entrepreneurs and artisans move into a community they are a catalyst.”

 

Winter says what makes Barret Avenue exciting is that the rents are still cheap enough to enable individual entrepreneurs to take chances on their ideas. James Tyler, co-owner of the deli Joe Davola’s, at 901 Barret Avenue, is proof of that. Tyler was living in Chicago when he decided to open a restaurant, but the rents there were too high for what he had in mind. He moved back to Louisville and opened Joe Davola’s in May 2009.

 

“Our business has been growing every month,” Tyler says. “January is usually a bad time for restaurants, but some mornings we had people lined up out the door. In this past year I’ve noticed more foot traffic. When we first opened, Barret Avenue was like a ghost town.”

 

Other business owners credit not only Lynn’s for the foot traffic but also the Regalo Unique Gifts and Original Arts, 982 Barret Avenue, and the Revelry Gallery next door, which holds regular events. Schwartz, of Mueble, says people often walk into her shop carrying Regalo bags, and she changes her window display regularly to catch the eye of customers walking back to their cars. 

 

“When I have friends from out of town, I take them to Regalo because they have things you can’t find anywhere else,” Schwartz says. “They are always busy and the people who go there stop to patronize other shops.”

 

While Barret Avenue is the epicenter for economic growth in the part of Germantown that butts up to the Highlands, it’s not the only place it is happening. The Coach Lamp on nearby Vine Street has changed from a beer-and-a-shot dive bar to an upscale dining establishment, and the Cafe, 712 Brent Street, is offering gourmet breakfast and lunch. While not a new business, the Fish House, 1310 Winter Avenue, is also thriving. On Sundays, it doubles as the Cafe Beignet and has become a popular brunch spot. And The Monkey Wrench, on the corner of Winter and Barret, is likewise drawing patrons to the area.

 

Winter says all of these signs of life bode well for the area’s future. “If you look at the history of hot spots for development, they always have a turning point,” Winter says. “I believe that Barret Avenue has reached that turning point.”