Bar and restaurant homeowners in East Nashville’s 5 Factors neighborhood are simply comfortable to see 1016 Woodland St. occupied — even when it’s with native sizzling rooster chain Occasion Fowl.
In a cosmic altering of the guard, Occasion Fowl opened on Might 11 as a part of its post-bankruptcy run of latest places — and this weekend, proper throughout the road, beloved unbiased restaurant Margot Café & Bar will shut after 25 years in enterprise.
“I’m glad to have one thing in there,” says Sara Nelson when requested in regards to the Occasion Fowl area. She’s the proprietor of close by 5 Factors bar Duke’s, which opened in 2015. “I hate all of these empty storefronts. It’s a bummer. I at all times say one of the best factor to occur to a bar is for an additional bar to open subsequent door.”
Margot McCormack explains her determination to shut her acclaimed East Nashville restaurant after 25 years
Restaurant and bar Tenn Sixteen closed in 2019; for a time after that, the constructing was occupied by 5 Factors Diner and Bar, which closed in 2024. Subsequent door, the previous house of three Crow Bar at 1024 Woodland St. nonetheless sits vacant after 3 Crow’s alternative, Buds & Brews, closed in June 2025. The corporate behind the THC-infused-drink institution purchased the area in September 2023 for $5.2 million, and the enterprise — which opened in July 2024 — survived for only one 12 months.
In 2005, the to-be homeowners of three Crow purchased the location for $375,000. Immediately, hire is $19,900 per 30 days.
Even when 3 Crow had survived the poisonous mixture of an upheaval over possession modifications and a post-pandemic decline in enterprise, it nonetheless won’t be round in the present day. That’s in keeping with Coral Smith, bar supervisor at bar and venue The 5 Spot and a former 3 Crow bartender.
“East Nashville is simply not what it was,” Smith says. “It was cool and artsy. Now with Occasion Fowl and BoomBozz Pizza — these issues are usually not cool. They’re tremendous mainstream. The explanation locations that have been cool and small companies got here to East Nashville is as a result of it was reasonably priced, and it’s not anymore.”
Margot Café & Bar
The 5 Spot proprietor Todd Sherwood paints an image of the glory days of the neighborhood: Wednesday night time at 3 Crow, 100 individuals between the ages of 21 and 40 present up for 2-for-1 drink specials. Most of them are in bands, and so they present up for one another’s exhibits at The 5 Spot, maybe ending the night time with a Past the Edge quesadilla. The nostalgia is potent.
“Individuals used to hang around after which go to the fuel station at 3 a.m. and purchase a case of beer and carry on hanging out all night time,” Sherwood says. “Not that it’s wholesome or no matter, however I believe individuals have been happier and socializing extra and having fun with each single night time, somewhat than going house and staying at house.”
Maybe what 5 Factors used to supply has migrated to different elements of city, Sherwood observes. The circuit of Vinyl Faucet and the 2023-opened Schulman’s Neighborhood Bar a bit additional north appears to be thriving, as is a bar-hop on Woodland Road between Lakeside Lounge, Ernie’s Boondock and Lowbar, amongst others.
Sherwood admits he’s nonetheless attempting to determine what individuals who come to 5 Factors want in the present day. He didn’t suppose East Nashvillians would embrace issues like Whataburger, 7 Brew or a New York-bred outpost like Skinny Dennis.
“Being cool is what’s going to ultimately kill it off,” he says of 5 Factors. “Individuals with some huge cash attempt to be cool too, and so they’re not cool, and their cash finally ends up ruining it, as a result of they increase the costs on every thing. They sort things up an excessive amount of.”
Nelson provides, “This neighborhood has modified lots, nevertheless it’s actually tenacious. Individuals like what they like. They actually need issues that really feel native and never overly curated. Individuals need one thing that seems like their neighborhood and never a neighborhood that you would discover anyplace.”
5 Factors staple Cumberland {Hardware} was already beating the chances again in 2009 when late Scene editor Jim Ridley wrote in regards to the significance of supporting small companies. Earlier this 12 months, homeowners John and Sheila Varallo instructed WKRN that the dearth of free parking within the space is “killing them,” however the retailer stays in operation. 5 Factors Pizza is holding onto its mainstay standing too.
As for the Margot area at 1017 Woodland St., proprietor Margot McCormack did veto not less than a few “silly concepts” for her area after she departs. However the sale of Margot is her retirement, she tells the Scene, and he or she has to get as a lot cash as she will from it. She had the uncommon alternative to purchase the location from her landlord for $730,000 in 2015, in keeping with Metro information.
McCormack remembers a time when she noticed headlights coming down the highway and knew individuals have to be coming to her restaurant — they have been the one ones there. She additionally remembers the times of describing her location as “10 blocks east of Nissan Stadium.”
McCormack likens the early days of Margot and different small companies to childhood pals enjoying within the sandbox collectively. She doesn’t know the homeowners of the newcomers like Occasion Fowl, or Edley’s Bar-B-Que and Bartaco close by. They haven’t reached out to her, and he or she hasn’t reached out to them.
“Now the sandbox is completely different,” McCormack says. “The individuals are completely different. We don’t have as a lot in widespread, I don’t suppose, despite the fact that we’re all entrepreneurs.”
She continues: “We’re getting these sorts of crowds that are very touristy, and so they don’t care who they’re supporting. They’re simply right here to have a superb time, and generally their good time is an excessive amount of of a superb time for me. I undoubtedly don’t need the neighborhood to go in that route, however while you lose all of your native taste, that’s sort of what occurs.”
Correction: A earlier model of this text omitted point out of 5 Factors Diner and Bar. We apologize for the error.
