Cory Graves
New Businesses Are Flocking To Deep Ellum These Days. Here's A Primer On The Whole Lot Of Them.
It seems like, at least once a year, the urge to write the admittedly tired “Deep Ellum is back!” story becomes impossible to resist — typically after a handful of new business open in the neighborhood within a few weeks of one another.
But for whatever reason — and probably not even intentionally — businesses do seem to flock to Deep Ellum in spurts. In the first quarter of 2013, for instance, Wit's End, Three Links and Twilite Lounge all opened their doors within a few weeks of each other with the Green Room and Fuzzy's joining their ranks a couple months later.
And this summer, it seems, we're in another such period of boom. It's an especially remarkable thing this time around, too, considering the massive amounts of road construction that's hampered Elm Street for over a year now.
It began in May when Pecan Lodge moved from its always busy Farmers Market location to its always busy new location on Main Street in Deep Ellum and new streetwear shop Epocha followed suit just one street over.
SEE ALSO: LINED UP. // Scenes From Pecan Lodge's Long-Awaited Grand Opening in Deep Ellum on Friday. Two months later, the candy-themed not-so-speakeasy Truth & Alibi and Stonedeck Pizza joined the party, the latter opening doors on its Elm Street location and offering up “traditional American-style” pies and a variety of different moonshines.
SEE ALSO: SWEET SURPRISE. // An Inside Look At Truth & Alibi, Deep Ellum's New Candy Shop-Hidden Speakeasy. Then, just last week, there was another trio of bar openings to speak of. First, it was Off the Record, a new seven-days-a-week offering from the owners of Dada in the space that once served as that club's green room. What makes this place truly interesting, though, is its partnership with Good Records to operate as one of the few bar-meets-record store concepts in the entire country.
Just down the street, meanwhile, Anvil Pub lifted the garage doors on its new 1,500-square-foot expansion that ostensibly doubled the popular bar's capacity.
SEE ALSO: SIZING UP. // More Anvil Pub? Yes, Please: Take A Look At Anvil Pub's New Expanded Space.
And, at the other end of the neighborhood, Cold Beer Company saved the once-condemned, former home of soul food eatery Vern's Place, converting the spot immediately into the premiere beer garden and patio spaces in all of Deep Ellum.
SEE ALSO: COLD CASE. // Check Out Cold Beer Company, Deep Ellum's Newest Watering Hole.
Turns out, there's even more coming: Culture Map reports that a new craft beer-centric restaurant called Armoury D.E. will be moving into the spot on Elm Street vacated by Kettle Art last year. That one, they say, should open in the late fall.
Then there's BrainDead Brewing, which recently began construction on what will ultimately be the neighborhood's first brewpub. Braindead's owners also say they hope to open up by the year's end.
Perhaps the most exciting news, though, was the official announcement by Trees owners Clint and Whitney Barlow at that venue's five-year anniversary party last month, that they'll be re-opening the Bomb Factory sometime next summer, once again bringing a 3,000 capacity venue to Canton Street.
Is all of this enough to finally proclaim that Deep Ellum is “back?” Have the recent glut of new businesses flocking to the area returned the neighborhood to its former glory? Or is this new generation of places creating a legacy wholly its own?
In the end, does of any of that matter?
The truth is that several new businesses have been welcomed to the neighborhood in the last year — and, by all accounts, several more are set to join those ranks in the coming months.
It is what it is, I guess. It just so happens that it's all pretty exciting, too.
SEE ALSO: A NEW ERA. // New Deep Ellum Streetwear Shop Epocha Opens Its Doors This Weekend. Here's What To Expect Of It.
SEE ALSO: THE SPREAD. // Stonedeck Joins The Deep Ellum Pizza Party and The City Addresses The Kung Fu Saloon Situation.
