2011 Business Review: What We Lost Downtown

In this, the second year I've written Stuck Inside of Knoxville, the pace of change continues to be breath-taking. It's sometimes hard to see as events happen, alterations are made, new faces emerge and old ones fade. In retrospect, however, a simple listing of business losses, changes and additions highlights the intense comings and goings in this relatively small patch of earth. Today we'll look at what has been lost. I doubt my memory and limited time for research will prove exhaustive, so you'll have to note in the comments additional closures I failed to recall as I wrote this.

Arby's on Gay Street closed December 30, 2010

Two closures happened just before the end of 2009, but together with another early closing, they felt like the beginning to the new year, and they were big in different ways. The closure of Arby's on Gay Street on December 30 was troubling both because of its long tenure in that location and because the location is so prime. The fact that this centrally located corner continues to be vacant a year later is troubling.

Regas closed December 31, 2010 after Ninety Years

The next day, after ninety years at the same location at the other end of Gay Street, downtown institution Regas closed its doors for a final time. Just days into the new year an emblem of downtown's resurgence, the S and W announced it was closed "until further notice." Further notice never came and three major landmark businesses were gone.

It was a pretty staggering beginning, maybe enough to make one wonder if the momentum downtown had faltered or the recession was finally asserting itself in an area that had seemed largely immune to its effects. There was enough bad news through the rest of the year that, when viewed alone, seems to support that question.

Patrick Sullivan's in the Old City Closed in June 2011

If we had known, for example, at the beginning of the year that the two most visible buildings in the Old City would be empty by summer, no doubt it would have seemed the apocalypse was certainly upon us and indeed, that's just what happened - the emptiness, that is, not the apocalypse: Manhattan's had closed the previous summer and still sat empty when Patrick Sullivan's announced its closure at the beginning of the summer. One of the first buildings rehabilitated by Christopher Kendrick in the long march that has been the return of Knoxville's downtown, it had been Patrick Sullivan's for eighteen years and was previously the lovingly remembered Annie's. With that closure the central corner in the Old City featured two empty businesses.

Notice of Night Owl's closure, December 2011

The Old City would also see the departure of the Fortunate Traveler for the Turkey Creek Public Market. In the last days of the year - and I haven't seen this mentioned elsewhere - Night Owl in the Old City also closed its doors for the final time. Just a couple of blocks up the hill, the 100 Block also saw losses. Nama vacated, Unarmed Merchants cast their lot with the aforementioned Turkey Creek Public Market and late in the year, Eleven, a women's clothing store announced its closure as well.

1 Market Square sits empty, 2011

Market Square Kitchen closed April 2011

Meanwhile, Market Square was no stranger to losses during 2011. 2 Market Square was placed on the Market, leading Reruns to vacate and across at 1 Market Square, in a surprising development, long-term restaurant Market Square Kitchen closed. This meant that three corners of Market Square were vacant. It came very close to being four had Blue Coast Burrito not opened the previous month. For the jewel of downtown re-development to have three of four corners empty did not seem like a good sign. In a related development (to 1 Market Square), the Hotel Oliver, in the same building, closed for renovations. Black Market also closed on Market Square.

Ace High Tattoo closed December 31, 2011

Another closure I haven't seen reported elsewhere: As of the last day of the year, Ace High Tattoo on Clinch Avenue closed it's doors for the last time. We're told Kimberly Clark is leaving downtown as is the Revenue Recovery Corporation which employs over one hundred people in the Mechanics Bank and Trust Building on Gay Street.

Revenue Recovery Corp. announces departure, Dec. 2011

It doesn't look good. By my count that is fourteen businesses closing or announcing that they are moving and it isn't just the fact that businesses closed, it's the major brand names we lost. Take into account the prime locations losing businesses and that some still sit empty and it is disconcerting. So, do we all need to rush to escape the city before the rest of the sky falls? 


Not so fast. Tomorrow I'll look at businesses that adapted this year and become stronger as a result.

Surviving the Snow in Downtown Knoxville without a Grocery Store

How is that possible? Everyone knows the drill in Knoxville: Snowflakes appear on the extended forecast and we panic, heading quickly to our local grocery store for milk, eggs and bread. Need it or not, it's just what we do. So what happens to hapless urbanites without a grocery store? We take pictures. I realized that most people never see Knoxville in the snow because we rarely have any and because when it snows mostly residents are the brave souls shuffling about.

I'm dividing the pictures into two groups because there are so many of them. I'll start with my swing through the northern half of downtown. I didn't make it to Gay Street and I only took one aerial view of Market Square. I tried to include some things I may have missed before. Tomorrow I'll post the southern swing through downtown.

Mews between row homes of Kendrick Place, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Front view of Kendrick Place, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

I started with the courtyard, or mews as residents call it, at Kendrick Place. These brownstones, which often remind visitors of Georgetown, Philadelphia or Boston depending on the background of the visitor are beautiful in the snowy winter and the floral spring. You should check them out if you never noticed them nestled up against Chesapeake's.

Memorial to Firemen, Downtown Fire Station, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Old City Hall, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

I walked from there past the Downtown Fire Station to the Old City Hall, ca 1846, which was later a Civil War Hospital, an "insane asylum" (see A Death in the Family (Penguin Classics) ), an early version of the Tennessee School for the Deaf and currently the home to the Lincoln Memorial University Law School, which won Pete DeBusk an award from Knox Heritage for its renovation in 2010.

View of Market Square from TVA Plaza, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Ryan's Row, Vine Avenue, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Front of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church

After a stop for an aerial view of Market Square from the TVA Plaza, which is supposed to be public access, I passed Ryan's Row, row homes built in anticipation of the 1982 World's Fair and a quiet, elegant secret atop a bluff over looking the Valley. I attempted a few shots of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, which is very difficult to photograph because the bluff drops off in front of it making it difficult to move to a sufficient distance away for a good view.

100 block of Gay Street, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Train yard and depot, downtown Knoxville, January 10, 2011

I took shots of the 100 block of Gay Street and the train yard with the old Depot in the background, then moved down Jackson Avenue to the Old City, past Patrick Sullivan's and ending this part of the swing with my favorite sight of all: the inside of Java where I warmed up with a delicious cup of coffee served perfectly by Lizzie.

View east on Jackson Avenue, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Patrick Sullivan's, Old City, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Lizzie serves the java at Java, Old City, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Taylor Disappearing

This has been a summer of disappearances in downtown Knoxville. Vagabondia, which was a Market Square staple, disappeared. I was told it was all good, the business was fine, but the offer to purchase the building was better. Fizz is coming in its place. 10,000 Villages, also a long-term tenant on Market Square disappeared. Again, I was told all is good, that the concept continues online and in other markets. The people who were running it were doing so as volunteers and they were ready to move on. Swagger took its place. Manhattans closed and that building and the one across the street housing Patrick Sullivan's are for sale. Both are Old City institutions.

On a personal level, Hector Qirko, who many of us assumed we would have forever, has moved to South Carolina, taking his quirky guitar licks and jazzy stylings to other markets. The clincher was a full-time teaching offer. That one hurts for those of us who have enjoyed his music and his smile for years.

Taylor behind roses and a young woman

Having moved downtown last fall, one of the people near the top of my get-to-know list was the Rose Guy. When I got an opportunity to introduce myself and ask his name, that was what he told me, "Rose Guy." It was a while before I learned his name was Taylor. When I asked him about the rose petals I found scattered around downtown, he said something to the effect of the universe placed the petals where they needed to land. In the following months I learned his name is Taylor and we developed a system of getting roses into the hands of people who looked like they needed one. It was great fun.

I've seen Taylor downtown forever, but never until I moved here did I make the attempt to get to know him. He's cryptic, soft-spoken and on a mission to sell roses, so he doesn't linger for conversations. I also learned he is very private. He does not particularly like to have his picture taken, so you won't find many pictures of him if you do a search. Cynthia Moxley has a good one on her Blue Streak blog, but I'm not sure if she took it. After a little cat and mouse, I managed to get these couple of photographs with Taylor being, well, kind of like Wilson on Home Improvement. I decided it suited him.

Sadly, Taylor has suggested that he, too, will soon disappear. He says this is the worst year he's ever had for rose sales and that the universe calls elsewhere. His voice trails off and he looks into the distance and that's all he'll say. Knoxville is losing a kind spirit and another person who makes the texture of life downtown richer for his presence. Hopefully he'll have a change of heart. If not,we'll miss him. Someone else might step in to sell flowers, but it will not be with the same style and grace and the flowers could not possibly be more beautiful.

Flowers on the sidewalk among the cigarette butts outside Pembroke