Tag Archives: Business

East Lake residents to get choices for their morning cup

Posted on June 17, 2014 | Leave a comment

east59interiorIt’s been several months since the REVIVE pop-up initiative visited several of REV Birmingham‘s commercial districts. One of the long-awaited results of that effort in East Lake is the opening of East 59, a coffee shop to be located at 7619 1st Avenue North near Oporto-Madrid Blvd. A May 19 status update to the company’s fan page on Facebook let folks know they’d been approved for build-out, keeping them on-track for the summer opening long mentioned on their website. They won’t be the only ones keeping area residents caffeinated this summer though…

coffeebooksbluesA Kickstarter campaign launched by Sharrif Simmons suggests area residents will have at least two coffee houses to choose from later this summer, though the second will have a different vibe. The New York native is looking to open Coffee, Books, and Blues by July, bringing an independent bookstore and music venue to the area at 752 81st St., S., near the corner of Rugby Avenue and 81st St. S. Simmons once worked at the famed Liberation Bookstore in Harlem and is its late founder Una Mulzac‘s great nephew. He plans to offer a selection of both new and used books. There are also plans to serve as a performance venue and to host a farmers market on Sundays.

Looking forward to seeing how both of these efforts move forward.

Leave a comment

Posted in 35206, Books, Business

Tagged , , , , ,

Last day to “vote Birmingham” for U.S. Chamber community award

Posted on February 28, 2014 | Leave a comment

021006_CommunityExcellence_Wufoo_648x108px_Final3-2Six Birmingham area businesses were among the 100 recently honored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as recipients of the organization’s annual Blue Ribbon Awards. There were nine recognized statewide by the organization.

Birminghamians now get a chance to help one of these businesses receive the organization’s Community Excellence Award, but only until 10:59 a.m., CT tonight!

The website for the organization’s America’s Small Business Summit (where all the businesses will be awarded on June 13) states the award “is designed to highlight a business that has found success in the eyes of its community.” The voting takes place online, and you’re allowed one vote per email address. Here’s the list of local winners:

  • Bhate Geosciences, Corp.
  • McSweeney Holdings
  • Proventix Systems, Inc.
  • Relax, It’s Handled
  • Silvertron Cafe
  • Urban Cookhouse

The local winners will also learn on March 19 if one of them are among the seven regional finalists. One of them will receive the Dream Big Small Business of the Year Award (and $10,000) while at the Summit.

Leave a comment

Posted in Business

Tagged , , , , ,

Lyric Hot Dogs & Birmingham Landmarks meet, release statement

Posted on November 6, 2013 | 1 comment

11062013 Lyric September 2013The Terminal and other area news organizations received the joint statement early this afternoon via email. It’s the result of a meeting between Andrew Collins, owner of Lyric Hot Dogs, and Brant Breene, executive director of Birmingham Landmarks – the organization responsible for the operation of the Alabama Theatre and the restoration efforts underway at the Lyric Theatre (pictured to your left in September).

A copy of the statement has been uploaded as a PDF to our site.

The document states that while possible options were considered this morning, “code issues and other realities left the Lyric team with no choice for us to stay in our current location,” according to Collins. It went on to state he would focus on his new business, The Collins Bar (located in the former Metro Bistro location on 2nd Avenue North).

Most people learned of the plans for Lyric Hot Dogs to close in January after receiving a 90-day notice to vacate via status updates to Facebook late last week. A commentary was filed by John Archibald for al.com and The Birmingham News on Monday, with Weld for Birmingham publishing an expanded piece about the situation in their current issue. A statement has also been posted on the Lyric Theatre’s fan page on Facebook via their photo album courtesy of the board chairman, G. Daniel Evans, pertaining to comments made on the popular social network with regard to Birmingham Landmarks executive director Brant Breene.

1 Comment

Posted in 35203, Business

Tagged , , , , ,

Safari Cup faces a fight against Starbucks… in Chicago

Posted on December 10, 2012 | 1 comment

It’s been a little more than three years since Safari Cup Coffee (somewhat) unexpectedly closed up shop at the corner of 21st St. (Richard Arrington, Jr. Blvd) and 3rd Ave. N. What some folks may not be aware of is that they simply moved the operation a few hours north to Chicago.

They opened in October of 2009 along the Southport corridor of the Windy City’s Lakeview neighborhood. A 2011 interview with the city’s RedEye has Dave McLaughlin saying the move was because he and wife “desired a more open-minded city and one that would embrace their African-only coffee.”

An email sent out over the weekend from “Andrew” via the site Change.org  directs people to sign an online petition asking Starbucks to not go through with plans to open a new location next door to the independent coffee shop. The email, however, asked for folks to “Save Birmingham’s Safari Cup coffeeshop.”

The news first broke in Chicago on November 16 via Facebook, with DNAInfo and the Patch site for Lakeview both writing about McLaughlin’s concerns and the fact that Starbucks hasn’t exactly done anything wrong.

A local blog, 900poundgorilla, maintained by W.C. Truck, has also been vocal about the impending Starbucks expansion. He’s gone so far as to write an open letter to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on his site inviting him on his radio show Sunday (yesterday) on WCPT-AM 820. We don’t know if Schultz accepted the invitation.

1 Comment

Posted in Business, food

Tagged , , , , , ,

UPDATE: A petition supporting area food trucks appears

Posted on July 11, 2012 | Leave a comment

Food Truck. Courtesy of Operation New Birmingham

See updates below | It’s been a long time since anyone’s talked about the issue of food trucks here in Birmingham, AL – relatively speaking. It’s been nearly two years since an episode that eventually led to ONB announcing and then changing its stance on them.

It’s not hard to find folks supportive of their existence based on the crowds that gathered for two different events built around them in the metro area held on the same day back on May 12. If nothing else, folks are more aware of just how many options they have.

Some residents are wanting to make sure that members of Birmingham’s City Council are aware of how many people enjoy the options currently available to folks who work, live, and visit our fair city. They’ve already garnered about 75 virtual signatures as of 10 a.m. this morning on a Change.org petition asking our municipal legislative body to establish policies that support them when possible (and they’ll probably reach their goal of 100 well before lunchtime).

Early Wednesday evening, July 11, the owner of Spoonfed Grill shared an update from a Birmingham City Council meeting where new regulations were being discussed.

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/SpoonFedGrill/status/223184528913596416″]

It’s been interesting to look at the conversation taking place on the petition’s page, particularly when you look at what some who aren’t signing the petition are saying about whether or not other issues facing the area need the same level of opinion.

UPDATE 3 p.m.: According to a post this afternoon on Magic City Post, the total number of signatures being sought has been raised to 500 – and its nearly reached that goal as well.

UPDATE 5:27 p.m.: The Birmingham News is now reporting that the new goal for Naomi Anderegg’s effort  is 1,000; it’s currently at 617.

UPDATE 7/15, 8:50 a.m.: A quick check of the petition currently shows the new goal as being 1,500 signatures with more than 1,160 already collected.

Leave a comment

Posted in Business, food, Online

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Do you want to Occupy Avondale?

Posted on January 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

Occupy-AvondaleJust when you thought the Occupy meme was going to fade away in 2012, Avondale Brewing Company is inviting folks to join them in their invasion of 41st Street South (a.k.a. the Avondale commercial business district served by Main Street Birmingham).

Occupy Avondale is an opportunity for a new or existing business to move in directly across the street from the brewery – and including six months free rent in the completely renovated space located at 200 41st St. S. The winner will be chosen from five finalists and occupy either 1,800 or 2,400 square feet of space on the ground floor of the building.

Folks interested in the opportunity may apply using the Google docs form through January 31. The winner is scheduled to be announced at an event at the brewery in March.

A recent entry on MSB’s on-site blog goes over some of the criteria being considered among the judges. You also probably wouldn’t want to enter without looking over the contest rules (it’s a PDF).

By the way – if you want to learn a little bit more about memes, check out this site (don’t worry, it’s taking part in today’s blackout too).

Leave a comment

Posted in Development

Tagged , , , , ,

Three years later, Einstein Bros. arrives

Posted on January 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

Einstein Bros. logoJust as Megabeth is preparing to leave Birmingham, AL, Einstein Bros. finally arrives in The Magic City. It just took a little longer than they thought it would…

The national bagel chain drew attention to itself more than three years ago when it announced  plans to offer franchising opportunities in Alabama and six other states.

The new location, the company’s first franchised location in metro Birmingham, is in fact the fourth one in the state – all located on college campuses (joining locations in Auburn, Mobile and Troy). This one is housed in UAB’s Learning Resource Center (located at 1714 9th Ave. South)

This UAB-produced video about the restaurant’s opening suggests that it fills a need for those working between the university’s student center and 20th Street South.

Leave a comment

Posted in Business

Tagged , , , , , , , ,