Reborn on The Bayou
Reborn on the Bayou
Business resurfaces on historic retail strip
By: Emilie Bahr
Posted: Monday, June 23, 2008
Vera Warren-Williams started Community Book Center almost 25 years ago out of her parents’ home in the Lower 9th Ward. As the business expanded, she moved it to various locations and in 2003 decided it was time for a permanent home at a former flooring store on Bayou Road.
Her choice was no accident. Warren-Williams saw her bookstore, which specializes in works by African-American authors, as a good fit alongside others on the brick-lined stretch of road just off Broad Street.
Today, other small businesses are finding a similar appeal in Bayou Road, adding fuel to what Warren-Williams said has become merchants’ goal of creating a “cultural commercial corridor.”
Warren-Williams is a foremost advocate of this effort, one of four women entrepreneurs dubbed the Belles of Bayou Road for their swiftness in returning to business after Hurricane Katrina and role in helping to spark the recovery of commerce and return of the neighborhood.
“Now,” Warren-Williams said, “we refer to ourselves as the Belles and the Beaux of Bayou Road,” a tip of the hat to at least one male-owned store that has opened there since the storm.
The neighborhood’s roster of businesses now comprises fried chicken, seafood and Caribbean restaurants; a nail studio; beauty salon; bar; construction company; book, record, clothing and accessories stores; a print shop; cleaners; and, as of May, a coffee shop.
“There’s still room for growth,” said Warren-Williams, who looks to each new addition as “more seasoning for the pot.”
“You draw off of like energy,” she said of the attraction of new businesses to the area. “People who come to the bookstore, they feel the energy here. They go next door to get something to eat, they feel the energy.”
“This neighborhood is diverse,” said Kine Heights, manager of Black Coffee, which opened the first weekend in May. “We wanted people that needed this. We didn’t want to go into an area where they already had it.”
Matthew Knowles opened his store, Domino Sound Record Shack, a year and a half ago.
“It’s the whole feel of it,” Knowles said of the appeal of the street, where on a recent weekday morning the smells of Caribbean cooking from Coco Hut restaurant saturated the air and a feral rooster strutted about the road.
“It’s urban and there’s commerce but it’s also a calm neighborhood,” Knowles said. “The people are great around here.”
Bayou Road and nearby Broad Street were included in the city’s initial list of 17 target recovery zones. Warren-Williams said merchants would like to see money infused in the community go toward street, lighting and façade improvements that could help lure customers.
Neighborhood business owners have been vocal in community planning efforts, doing what they can to support one another while getting involved in the Downtown Neighborhood Improvement Association.
Last month, merchants started a fresh food market, held every fourth Saturday, and are considering a monthly flea market.
“It’s still challenging,” Warren-Williams said, ticking off a list of vacant buildings that organizers would like to see taken over by new businesses. “We need more marketing. We need more people coming to the area.”
Representatives of the nonprofit Idea Village, which provided grants to help the Belles of Bayou Road return to business after the storm, said activity along the corridor these days is a credit to this cluster of four fiercely determined business owners.
“You put committed, focused entrepreneurs in any area, they can actually attract activity,” said Idea Village President Tim Williamson. He describes Bayou Road as a shining example of the merits of Idea Village’s philosophy of investing in these types of business owners as a means of sparking the revival of communities at large.
“Viable, vibrant businesses can be a catalyst to accelerating the recovery of a neighborhood,” he said. “There’s a vibrancy (along Bayou Road) that’s exciting to see. You look five years from now at what that corridor is going to be ... we can trace it back to those four women.”
“Ms. Vera has this quote,” said Idea Village marketing director Lauren Baum. “When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.”•