Five Points News stand closing(turning into BBQ?)

[5pointy]

Went to get my usual Sunday paper today in the neighborhood at the Five Points newstand on Park. The elderly guy working there said it was closing and may become a BBQ place. All the racks were gone, and just a handfull of the magazines were stashed in the old drink cooler. Not sure how that tiny place could crank out any BBQ--plus there isn't a kitchen that I know of there.

[BridgeTroll]

That sucks... How long has that news stand been there?

[copperfiend]

Five Points is dying

[iluvolives]

I noticed this weekend that two new places were in the process of opening- a hair place and something next door that will have gifts and such. It was starting to look really empty, so I was glad to see some new places coming in. Hopefully they will make it.

[Timkin]

That sucks... How long has that news stand been there?

Since Moby Dick was a minnow .. give or take a couple years.    Too bad.

[Dog Walker]

It was there in the early 1950's from personal memory.  Publix, Wallgreen's etc. all have magazine racks and newspaper stands inside now so maybe it's not economical anymore.

Passing of another icon.

[ChriswUfGator]

5 Points is in fact dying.

But not because people don't go there, if you get into the details it's because there have been a string of unbelievable gaffes by property owners and business owners. Fuel and Ragland's closed because of management issues, and because they for whatever reason had agreed to pay more rent than the space was worth at the last renewal and couldn't make the numbers work.

Then there was the Sushi-turned-Thai-turned-Chinese-turned-back-into-Sushi restaurant that alienated all their customers by changing formats faster than most people change underwear. Which is a shame because the food was good, but every other time I went they had a new menu and anything I liked off the old menu was gone.

Then that upscale place opened up in the middle of the block across from the theatre, charging $30 for entrees despite having a Chef with no formal training and bad service to top it off. Unsurprisingly, it closed within a month. Then the Subway moved off Lomax to that new building by Publix because their landlord was demanding an insane rent increase and their lease was up for renewal. The guy there says their new location gets 10X more traffic and the rent is actually cheaper.

Then that Latitudes Cafe with its $9 wraps that were missing most of the ingredients they were supposed to come with on the menu and stale Sams Club brand potato chips closed down. Again, not exactly a mystery what went wrong there. They did have good coffee though, but that wasn't enough to make a go of it since they're within 1 block of Coffee & Spice and 2 blocks of Starbucks.

I'm not sure if 5 Points is having bad luck lately or what, but there just hasn't been anything there lately that's worth going to. It's like the 20 people who know the least about restaurants all got together and decided to open up a bunch of places in 5 Points all at once. And the landlords were under the misguided impression after the renovation of the 5 Points Theatre building that they were sitting on the next Avondale, and began demanding commensurate rents. Kind of the perfect cluster !@#$

[Timkin]

5 points is pretty much in need of total renovation. (not the Theatre) I would attribute part of this to economics. A couple of the businesses have been hanging tough.. and I am sorry to see the area die..I like 5 points but it is hardly an Avondale or Riverside strip ,in terms of condition.

[5 Points Theatre]

There's a lot of exciting things happening in 5 Points.

Underbelly opened a few months ago, as did Lomax Lounge.

The new salon (Hawthorn) is open for business.

A new women's accessories store is about to next door.

The old Hypnotique seems to have been rented - brown is paper is up and someone is working inside.

The BBQ concept sounds kind of cool - we hear it will be cooked on a mobile smoker or grill and sold from the old newsstand.  It is connected with Derby House, so customers will be able to sit on the deck next door.

There are a couple of places that are rumored to be looking to expand into 5 Points that would be very exciting if they work out.

[RockStar]

5 Points isn't dying. Take it easy people. Poorly executed business plans don't survive anywhere.

Deco Bistro was doomed from the start. Like ChrisUF said, chef with no formal training and the owner had never even been in the business either. (The one and only time we ate there, he stopped and chatted us up. Told us how he cashed in his retirement portfolio to do this. I couldn't help thinking what an epic mistake that was). The owner of the building shouldn't have leased to them in the first place, in my opinion. Personally, I don't think it would have survived had the food been good and the service excellent. 5 Points isn't the place for high end eateries. Fun, hipster eateries work better there (OBrothers, Mossfire). Deco Bistro, properly executed, might've worked in Avondale.

The Fu Hao corner should be a money maker. Someone with some vision could make that spot hot. Fu Hao couldn't seem to pick an identity.

While it's a shame that these businesses didn't last, at least through creative destruction something new and exciting will evolve. And when someone does hit the right note, everyone will be saying, wow 5 Points is booming.
Unfortunately, exorbitant rents won't make that happen any sooner, and hopefully the building owners will eventually realize that having a viable tenant at a reasonable rate is better than no tenant at all.

~j.

[copperfiend]

The last few times I have been to Five Points Theater, it's a little depressing when you're leaving. I fully expect to see tumbleweeds next time.

On a side note, will the theater be playing The Kids Are All Right anytime soon?

[blandman]

Seems like reasonable rent is a major sticking point.  Anyone know what the market rate is in Five Points and how that compares to other retail strips in Avondale or San Marco?  Any opinions on what is reasonable?

[urbanlibertarian]

Printed reading material is so 20th century.  It was only a matter of time before that newsstand died.

[5 Points Theatre]

The internet killed their real profit center.

Kids Are All Right will be opening on 3 screens this coming weekend (but not ours).  We've got The Girl Who Played With Fire instead.  And Winter's Bone opening on August 6th.  I'm really excited about that one.

I think rents are reasonable in 5 Points.  From a landlord's perspective, you really don't want someone who doesn't have a good chance of success renting your space and then going under after a short time.  Commercial tenants usually do a lot of buildout, and they can really mess up your space if they don't know what they're doing.

For example, I wouldn't have let Whalebone (the Deco Bistro space) expand into the space next door.  Once they're linked, it's very hard to split them back up, and now the space is potentially too large for the next tenant.

[copperfiend]

Winter's Bone is supposed to be amazing.