Akron s Kenmore neighborhood is investing in small businesses
Akron s Kenmore neighborhood is investing in small businesses
KAREN FARKAS
Akron s Kenmore Boulevard defied COVID-19.
While the pandemic decimated many small businesses, Kenmore has attracted six new ones as entrepreneurs were lured by city and local initiatives that have transformed the multiblock area into an attractive, walkable streetscape.
The new businesses include a preschool, home care business, tea shop, restaurant and barbershop, according to the Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance. And the boom in small businesses continues. A vintage boutique and refinishing supply shop opened April 1. A cancer resource center is scheduled to open May 1. And a long-awaited cafe and coffee shop is expected to open in June.
7 sudden new restaurant openings taking place around Dallas right now
7 sudden new restaurant openings taking place around Dallas right now Aloo tikki from Âme in Oak Cliff.
Photo courtesy of Ame The city of Dallas permitting process has been mired in slowness, delaying many potential restaurant openings. But some warriors have broken through including a new Indian restaurant in Bishop Arts, a hot chicken restaurant by SMU, and fingers crossed, a cookie delivery place in Victory Park. Here are seven sudden new openings taking place this week (or next):
Food park popup in south Dallas The MLK Food Park is a pop-up event debuting in south Dallas Forest District on April 9 and running through May 2. This partnership between the Real Estate Council s (TREC) Community Investors and the Better Block Foundation will feature a weekly rotation of food trucks and trailers, vendors, and musicians and entertainers.
The Hope for Lasting Change from a South Dallas Mobile Food Park
The city doesn t make it easy to start a food truck business, especially if you live in South Dallas. The organizers of the MLK Food Park are hoping to change that.
By Alex Macon
Published in
FrontBurner
April 7, 2021
8:30 am
There is potential in a vacant lot. Sometimes it can be hard to see. But try a little and you can envision what will appear Friday at a previously empty space in South Dallas, at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Holmes Street. There will be greenspace and a garden. Public art and shaded seating. A play area for kids. Live music. Shipping containers and pop-up structures. Food trucks and carts and other vendors from the area.
It was a hallelujah moment when we figured out that these thoughts and ideas that we ve been talking about for seven, 10, 12 years are now coming about, said Donald Wesson with Cornerstone Community Development Corporation. It s sorely needed. It s a forgotten neighborhood in South Dallas that s lacking the infrastructure of building a community. We don t have the coffee shops or the parks, but have a lot of liquor stores.
Wesson was among those at the lot on a sunny Monday morning helping to transform it into a vibrant space where vendors will sell food and families will gather. It s kinda the kick-off of the visible transformation that is starting to happen in the Forest district. And for many of the residents here, it s the first time they re going to see some of those tangible changes coming to life, said Kristen Leiber, The Better Block s senior project manager.