Posted Saturday, June 24, 2017 10:42 pm

Janie Wilson, owner of Johnny Brusco’s New York Style Pizza in Jasper, which had operated for years tucked away at a strip mall above the Walmart Supercenter, opened downtown the first week of May, after renovating the old Woolworth location on 19th Street, complete with parking and a second entrance in the back. “Our business doubled the first few weeks,” Wilson said. “I knew it would. I was very excited about moving. I had done my research. I felt like most of my customers were coming from here.” With Johnny Brusco’s, four major restaurants now anchor sections of Jasper’s entertainment district, creating a new trend in downtown dining for Jasper. In recent months, it has not taken a business degree to realize that area is now an area dining destination and a catalyst for economic growth downtown. “Every three to five months, I’m seeing an increase in traffic down here,” said Greg Kilgore, the chef and owner of Black Rock Bistro, noting activities downtown that are also leading to growth. Seth Lockhart, the bar manager at Warehouse 319 who has been at the restaurant since February 2016, said the traffic has increased since he has arrived. Compared to last year, “we’ve definitely had a significant increase in business, as far as food, beer and alcohol — in all phases.” People are beginning to pay attention to a number of diverse dining options available along 19th Street in Jasper’s entertainment district. Some are traveling from the interstate or other parts of the state to eat in downtown Jasper. Moreover, the people who are coming to the restaurants and festivals in that district are hard to miss, too, as they are creating a resurgence in the downtown area. Driving through at night, people are now seen milling outside the restaurants or courthouse square, sometimes even standing in line to get in to eat. Even on traditionally slower nights, one may see a large number of cars parked downtown and people walking across the courthouse square or down the street. Added to events downtown and the trendy atmosphere among the establishments, restaurants are reporting patrons coming in not just from the county but across the state and even from across the nation. Stores are seeing an uptick in traffic as people are now eating day and night in an area that in recent years had become known only for multitude of legal and government offices. The sudden growth of people on the square, especially at night, is now starting to prompt reactions, such as a new ATM machine at Pinnacle Bank and an effort to move the Relay for Life of Walker County to the courthouse square. Merchants are making adjustments in light of the foot traffic, such as changing their store windows and putting out sandwich boards on sidewalks to advertise sales. Kilgore said in the last three years, the changeover to the popular use of downtown restaurants began. The first couple of restaurants were good, he said, because people were happy to see downtown move in the right direction. Then more retail was seen. “The last three years — the foot traffic at night is amazing. During the day it is unreal to see how this place has grown in the last three years,” Kilgore said. “I can’t wait to see what the next three years entails. It’s really growing.” The restaurant managers pointed to the activities downtown as a catalyst for bringing in people. “I think the Main Street Association is doing a really good job of trying to bring more things like that around,” Wilson said. Lockhart said events or additional restaurants help increase business, pointing to the addition of Johnny Brusco’s as an example. He also noted the Velcro Pigmies and Path to the Foothills concerts as examples of what can bring in people. “There are not a lot of things to do in Jasper in general,” so the restaurants and events can fill that void, he said. Warehouse 319 has music every Friday and Saturday night, and events are happening almost every weekend. The restaurants also note that they get along, recognizing the variety they bring together. Wilson said she is good friends with personnel at the other three restaurants. “We’ve all worked together on this,” she said. “I think everyone is seeing an upswing, and as the summer goes on and we have the festival again, I think it will only get better and better.” Kilgore points out a friendliness between the restaurants. “All these restaurants down here, they are not competitive with each other. They all have something different going on,” he said. He noted the different varieties, which brings more people downtown. They, in turn, may see the other restaurants and want to try them as well — and all of that helps drive retail sales nearby. “It plays off each other. Everyone down here has enough busy. We’re all very busy,” he said. “It’s going in the right direction.” Lockhart also noted the cooperation.

“Even Bernard’s — we’ll have people come in ordering food to go. They’ll go in there and look around, and then come back in here and pick up their food,” Lockhart said. “Before Brusco’s had their license, we had people get a drink and they can carry it outside since we have the entertainment district. They would go sit outside their patio and drink our beer and eat their pizza. We all just kind of work together.” At Los Reyes Grill, co-manager Carlos Pedraza, along with two brothers, said 2012 and 2013 “were OK, but 2014, that was when it started to take off.” Pedraza added, “People now relate to downtown as a place to eat, not just for our place but among all the other places. It might be where we are busy one day, and they come and see we are busy, so they go to another establishment, or visa versa. We kind of benefit from each other.” He and other owners agreed it was like going to a movie and seeing a movie trailer for another film, prompting them to come back again. “A lot of people didn’t know we were here and they came to Warehouse or Black Rock and they saw we were here. The restaurant business is more word of mouth than anything,” Pedraza said, adding downtown events, more retail and loft apartments. “The more traffic, the more business,” he said. Lockhart said customers from across the nation has been seen at the establishment. “We have people from Canada regularly,” he said. He said an urban disc tournament in the city brought in someone as far as California. Many people who reside at Smith Lake come to Jasper to eat. In fact, he said many people are driving in 60 to 80 miles in all directions to eat downtown. “We have regulars coming every week from Birmingham,” he said, as there is no courthouse square experience like it there. He said the atmosphere can help retail, saying the growth was downtown. “I have people all the time, usually three or four older couples a month, and they say, ‘Hey, tell us about some cool places where we can go antiquing downtown,’ and we don’t have many places,” Lockhart said. “If I was going to open a business in Jasper, it would be downtown.” As for lofts, he said he would be interested himself in available lofts. “For me, it is right here at work,” he said, noting at his old Birmingham apartment, he could walk to anywhere he needed to be. “It is a convenience thing. Lofts down here would be really cool, because of the Foothills Festival. You could open your windows and sit here, prop your feet up and watch Jason Isbell from 100 yards away, free from your house. That is incredible.” Wilson’s family had owned buildings years ago downtown, and she had also helped start the Downtown Merchants Association about 30 years ago, she said. As her mother got older, the downtown store was sold, although the family has kept Carol’s running in the Jasper Mall. However, Wilson’s family has always kept a heart for downtown. In her restaurant, she noted she was sitting in the location of the old Woolworth’s diner. “I sat there many days swinging my feet on that stool and eating,” she said. “We had an S&F, which was a cafeteria. We had a lot of restaurants back then.” However, she noted the restaurants left downtown, as did retailers such Woolworth’s, JC Penney’s and Fred’s, as the trend at one time was to move toward Highway 78 (now also called Highway 118). That was a blow to downtown, but now, she is excited to see a comeback. “Once we got a couple of restaurants down here, people started to come, especially on the weekends,” Wilson said. At nights, she said the downtown destination has become very popular, sometimes even creating lines to get in for evening meals. She has especially seen a difference in the past six months, since the Christmas holidays. In recent weeks, the weather was cool enough that some diners took advantage of tables that are outside, sometimes with concerts going on at the courthouse square, creating a community feel. All the nights are doing well, but especially on Friday nights. Kilgore said the general growth he sees in downtown is reaching a stage that it is reaching beyond “the courthouse hub” to spread out as the spaces fill up to create a complete downtown area. He sees the potential for retail growth, noting he has heard plans on Fifth Avenue for a shopping center to create “a high-end flea market” downtown. “Retail is looking at it like this is the place to be,” he said. “We’re moving away from (Highway) 78 a little bit. Downtown areas across the country are growing. We’re getting back to the downtown areas.” Kilgore commended local officials for promoting the downtown area and scheduling events. He also pointed out two buildings are undergoing renovations for loft apartments. “People are going back for the small downtown feel,” he said. “But it takes a complete package to do that. It is not just restaurants. It is not just retail or entertainment. It is everything. This downtown area is becoming whole,” meaning one can come for just about all needs. “It is a variety,” he said, adding it cannot just be about “two restaurants and 50-something law offices.”