For years, Southland Association, the coalition of local businesses and residents in the Southland Drive area, has been making steady progress on perhaps one of the neatest and most overlooked business corridors in Lexington.
Southland Drive, which includes nearby areas such as Regency Road, is home to a variety of interesting businesses in a fairly easy-to-walk area. The association (www.southlandassociation.com) is ably led by President Phil Wyant and other local leaders, and each year the dividends of their labors become more evident.
Some of the foundations of a distinctive business community are food, art and entertainment. Southland boasts a Sunday Farmers Market, a very popular seasonal Thursday night Southland Jamboree, and a community initiative to paint the Southland Drive Norfolk Southern railroad bridge. Local support from businesses and the LFUCG Division of Parks and Recreation help make initiatives like this happen. The Southland Jamboree has drawn crowds of Bluegrass music fans as large as 6,000.
There is a great diversity of restaurants and other food places to choose from. Notable examples are the Good Foods Market and CafÈ, which has WiFi availability in its CafÈ; Shooters Sports Bar; Winchell's Restaurant; Columbia Steakhouse Express; The Ketch Restaurant; Donut Days; Slone's Signature Market; Old Kentucky Chocolates; Arby's; Collins Bowling Center; Sontino's; Marikka's Bier Stube; Ali Baba Mediterranean Territory; Subway; Caramanda's Bake Shop; Hunan; and Sharp's Candies. What is interesting about this group of food businesses is that, with few exceptions, they are all independently owned, as opposed to being chain establishments. Unfortunately, one of my favorites in the area, the Milk Jug, is now closed. Just outside the area is the relatively new Coffee Break CafÈ, which also offers free wireless connection, is located across from the corner of Southland Drive and Harrodsburg Road. What is probably unknown to many is that the very first Long John Silver's was once located next to the railroad tracks on Southland Drive, and its success spawned the birth of a national restaurant chain.
Another business segment that is really growing in the area is the healing and wellness sector, and so much so that the area hosted a Southland Area Healing Arts Hop in August to showcase these businesses to interested citizens. A total of 16 such businesses participated in the event, which was organized in part by Donna Pizzuto of the Center for Therapeutic Touch and Karen Nixon with the Center for Alternative Medicine (both located on Regency Road just off Southland Drive). A recent ribbon cutting was also held for Artemesia, which is a first-of-its-kind, community-based acupuncture and wellness center in Kentucky.
But that's not the limit to Southland's strengths. This corridor could also be called the music center of Lexington, as it is also home to music businesses such as Willcut's Guitar Shoppe, the Lexington Music Academy, the Drum Center, Doo Wop shop, DW Sound and the Don Wilson Music Company. Because of my own son's interest in music, we have probably patronized at least half these places, which are all conveniently located near each other. These linked interest businesses forge a critical mass that enhances the area's appeal and could be a foundation for even greater things.
To add to the richness of this retail mix there are also some very specialized niche stores like the Morris Book Shop, Reincarnated Books, Gem Source and A+ Comics. And then of course, there is mainstay Curry shoes, also known as "the store with the talking tree," which has been on Southland Drive since 1958 and in Lexington since 1948.
This community and trade area has some of the same attractive and unique characteristics as the Frankfort Avenue and Bardstown Road corridors in Louisville. Many organizations have a mission statement, but not all deliver. The mission statement of the Southland Association, to "stand united in support of the Southland Community, to promote healthy business and to enhance the future for the benefit of our residents and customers," is delivered upon, and the city of Lexington is better for it. If you haven't experienced it recently, I encourage you to visit this area, which last year received an award from Mayor Newberry for its beautification efforts and community service.
Mark Sievers, a former restaurant executive with Yorkshire Global Restaurants and YUM! Brands, owns the business brokerage and consulting company The Sievers Company LLC. He can be reached at thesieversco@aol.com.