Despite the sluggish economy and a renewed interest in saving instead of splurging, local retail areas still are trying their best to pull in visitors and make the shopping experience unique.

The appeal of Frazier Avenue on the North Shore continues because of a constant crop of original destinations.

Many stores, like the new N2Shoes and the chic boutique Frankie & Julian's, and restaurants, such as Good Dog and Taco Mamacita that serve up unexpected items like homemade cupcakes and gourmet tacos, still cannot be found anywhere else in the city.

"Our family and friends think we're a little crazy because we're always coming up with something like, 'Hey, let's move,' and, 'Hey, let's open a shoe store in the worst economy,'" said Alison Songer, co-owner of N2Shoes.

But Ms. Songer, who runs N2Shoes with her husband, credits the store's success in the past few months (it opened in February) to an affordable price point -- shoes from $20 to $140 -- and a market that was ready for the lifestyle-type brands her store is carrying, such as Born, Simple and Toms.

And Good Dog, which offers all kinds of gourmet hot dogs, homemade chili and cupcakes, will appeal to green lovers, too, with an interior designed completely with recycled materials.

Drive a few miles south on Interstate 75 to Dalton, and shoppers will experience yet another area keen on revitalization and offering unique stores that can't be found in Chattanooga.

"All of the retail shops in downtown Dalton are local," said Veronica French, the Downtown Dalton Development Authority marketing and special event coordinator. "In towns of our size, it tends to be a mixture (of chain stores and locally owned), so Dalton is rare in that regard."

The stores in Dalton's downtown definitely fill small niches, such as the Yellow Bird, which caters to bird watchers and also features products for gardening. Then there's Raspberry Row, which started out making custom lamps but has morphed into selling kitchen ware and home goods.

Ms. French said Dalton's downtown, like other retail centers around the area, continues to benefit from the national trend of supporting local businesses in the tough economy.

"Thankfully there's been a big push to buy locally. We're seeing that now more than ever in Dalton," Ms. French said.

Dalton continues streetscaping and downtown revitalization

Begun in 2000, Dalton, Ga.'s streetscape plan for putting all downtown electricity and other cables underground is almost complete. "It looks great," said Veronica French, who does marketing for Dalton's downtown area. At a cost of about $7 million, Ms. French said the project has just a couple of streets to go, but has gone a long way in helping downtown become more attractive to pedestrians. "Our hope is that projects like this will continue our revitalization and help pull in more people to the area," Ms. French said.

Museum Center at Five Points brings back Biblical antiquities exhibit

The first museum in Cleveland, Tenn., actually was a collection of biblical antiquities that was housed at Bob Jones University -- now Cleveland's Lee University -- in the mid-1940s. But when Bob Jones University moved to Greenville, S.C., so did the museum. In honor of the 10 year anniversary of the Museum Center at Five Points, director Lisa Simpson Lutts has led the effort to bring back the exhibit this fall, which will run from Sept. 26 to Jan. 31, 2010. Ms. Lutts said attendance at the museum has been steadily growing. "We're really proud of that," she said.

Comments