If there is one family that has had an enduring impact on business in Lexington’s Gardenside neighborhood over the last half century, it’s the Dawahares. Anchoring Gardenside Plaza Shopping Center on Alexandria Drive since 1961, the store has been the lighthouse in a rolling sea of good and bad retail seasons in the plaza over the years. The store is not only a retail outlet but also headquarters for the Dawahare family clothing chain, now exactly 100 years old and 25 stores strong, nearly all of them in Kentucky. It’s one of the few remaining family-owned and operated clothing chains in the United States. The Gardenside Dawahares store and its adjoining plaza meet the demand of people living close by.
The family is owner and landlord for many of the shops in the plaza.
“You have to have businesses that fill a neighborhood need — not a city-wide need, not a regional need, but a neighborhood need,” said Harding Dawahare, the company’s president. “We feel our stores meet the expectations of our neighbors.”
Gardenside is the site of the semi-annual Dawahares overstock sale. Excess clothing from every Dawahares store is shipped to this one location. Shoppers anticipate it and turn out in huge numbers. “We have people who wait for that all year,” said Frank Dawahare, who, along with his brothers, ran the company for many years. A ton of University of Kentucky athletic wear, literally, goes out the door at deep discounts. The late UK President Dr. Otis Singletary used to shop those sales faithfully. “He really liked our family,” said Frank, with obvious pride. Those winter and summer sales also help the rest of the plaza’s shops with the additional shoppers on the scene.
Residents get a lot of errands done at Gardenside Plaza. Besides Dawahares, there’s a drug store, post office, hardware store, along with places to buy eyeglasses, ice cream, or a haircut. Pick up a video to take home, save money at a couple of inexpensive discount stores, take care of banking or laundry or get a cash advance before payday. Or get your slacks hemmed, a rabies shots for your pet, a sub sandwich for lunch, your teeth cleaned and a lot more. Across Alexandria Drive, Irish-influenced Mulligan’s Gardenside Caf√à is a popular spot. There is also a Kroger store next door to help you stock your cupboard.
There’s a Latin influence in the plaza, with names like La Favorita (grocery store and grill), La Moda (wedding dresses and formal wear) and Aciento (insurance agency). La Favorita opened just over ten years ago, accommodating an Hispanic crowd but welcoming a variety of people from other nationalities, according to owner Alex Gomez.
“We get all kinds of people, lots of different people,” said Gomez. The site started out only as restaurant, and then a colorful, interesting store was added. “People come to eat, and when they finish, they like to shop,” he explained. Gomez has similar businesses in Louisville and in Indiana, catering to the region’s growing Hispanic population.
Local fans of the popular television show Dancing with the Stars have probably seen Hunter Lisle, the owner of Lexington’s Arthur Murray Dance Studio, on TV in his company’s commercial. In the ad, he’s urging us to trip the light fantastic on his 2,400-square-foot “floating” dance floor (easy on the joints) where he promises that “anyone can dance.” Lisle has operated his Gardenside studio for seven years. The wildly popular TV show has brought him new customers eager to imitate the twirling TV stars. His customers come from all over town, inspired by the TV phenomenon as well as the 96-year-old Murray brand name.
“I really believe anyone can dance, if you have the desire,” Lisle said. “People ask themselves if they can do it, and the answer is ‘yes.’” When he scouted locations for a studio, Lisle drove past a vacant Gardenside space. “I saw someone walking their dog along the sidewalk of the shopping center, and I just knew this was a comfortable, safe place for me to open my business,” he revealed.
Lexington didn’t always have these neighborhood shopping centers. When IBM broke ground for its typewriter manufacturing plant in 1956, Lexington changed forever. With the influx of new IBM workers, several subdivisions developed on the edge of town. The new suburbs changed consumer shopping habits. Lexington’s retail scene, centered downtown since the pioneering days, radiated out toward shopping centers built near those IBM-enhanced neighborhoods. Gardenside was one of them. While the strip centers were eventually surpassed in size by indoor shopping centers like Fayette, Turfland and Lexington Malls and then by mammoth centers like Hamburg Pavilion, they never lost their association with their neighborhoods. Gardenside Plaza is a retail oasis — small, not directly connected to major highways, and completely surrounded by homes.
As Gardenside’s retail district ages gracefully, it continues to find its niche in that part of town – not too big and busy like Hamburg Pavilion, not too small like the four-storefront strip centers seen all over the city, but a comfortable, reliable neighborhood destination, serving a decidedly local clientele.