FAYETTEVILLE -- Places come and go in any main drag of a college town, but old-timers note the sheer number of new businesses on Dickson Street in the last three or four years is unusual.
Cannibal and Craft, Shulertown food truck court, Kraken Killer Seafood, Los Bobos, a slew of retail stores and Powerhouse Alley with its Marley's Pizzeria and Bar, luxury condominiums and Step-Up Nutrition all are examples of businesses that recently emerged on Dickson. JJ's on Dickson opened Wednesday at 324 W. Dickson St., where Jose's stood since 1980.
More parking and towering nearby apartment complexes have helped. Carl Collier, whose family-owned Collier Drug Store has been a staple of Dickson since 1950, said an influx of investment has contributed to a resurgence, particularly in the last few years.
"When you walk up and down the street with the trees and the lights, everything looks nice," he said. "It is not a dingy dump. I've seen those years."
Collier, a member of the Dickson Street Merchants Association and Dickson Street Property Owners Association, said the most immediately apparent signs that a revitalization is underway are the nearby apartment complexes, the thousands more students attending the University of Arkansas and the variety of new businesses.
The stretch is known for its bars and restaurants, but Dickson has so much more than that to offer, Collier said.
Craig Underwood, owner of Underwood's Fine Jewelers, said he welcomes what he views as the return of retail to Dickson within the last five years or so. Before that, his store, Colliers and Dickson Street Bookshop had been some of the few places that weren't a bar or restaurant, he said.
Not so anymore. Clothing stores such as Something Urban, E. Leigh's, Southern Trend, Lauren James and Gatsby's Boutique all are clustered at the west end of Dickson near Underwood's, with outdoor store Gearhead Outfitters just to the east.
Dickson Street was a hub of shopping in the 1960s, not long after Craig's father, Bill Underwood, opened the store. Having local retailers harkens back to the days of old and maintains the street's flavor, Craig Underwood said.
"We find that, obviously, very encouraging," he said.
At the opposite end of Dickson, at 205 W. Dickson St., is a squarely unique spot featuring a clothing store and beer bar/coffee shop, all in one building.
Fayettechill Clothing Co. shares the space with Puritan Coffee and Beer, which opened in 2014. Puritan owners Richard Cole, 34, and Kevin Frey, 27, weren't sure what to expect.
The two knew they wanted to be somewhere in or near downtown. Frey, who grew up in Houston, but moved to Fayetteville five years ago from Austin, didn't envision staying in Arkansas for long.
"We kind of got stuck in a good way, I guess," he said.
The notion of two businesses housed in the same building with nothing more than a sign separating them might not fly in a lot of cities, Frey said, including downtown Austin.
Dickson Street's uniqueness makes such a thing possible in Fayetteville, he said.
"I think people are rethinking how to do a lot of local business stuff right now," Frey said. "When they see things that are really different, it sparks their interest."
Skye de Saint Felix, 23, of Little Rock and Molly McCormack, 24, of Memphis are communication graduate students who have lived in Fayetteville for six years and are not excited about a Taco Bell cantina moving into the old Common Grounds spot. The experimental offshoot of the chain restaurant is scheduled to open late this year.
"Dickson is a unique part of Fayetteville," McCormack said. "You have Arsaga's and all of these great places. I feel like we should be keeping the local businesses, especially in this area."
It's hard to gauge the measure of Dickson Street's success because the city can't legally release revenue intake from individual businesses or specific areas, but there are certain signs that indicate good things are happening, said Chung Tan, director of economic development with the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.
A $22 million expansion and renovation at the Walton Arts Center is one, Tan said. Mayor Lioneld Jordan's plan to make Wi-Fi available along Dickson Street, like on the downtown square, is another.
Developers have invested more than $75 million in remodeling and construction on Dickson Street in the past 18 months, with more on the horizon, Tan said.
Most people did not want to go to Dickson Street in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Three murders there gained notoriety in 1980 and 1981. The student population largely migrated toward more parking-friendly venues along College Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for their leisure activity.
Attempts to revitalize the street came and went. Restaurants, bars and nightclubs worked to lure back the college students with unintended consequences.
"The change in Dickson Street bothered many long-time Fayetteville residents, while visitors thought of it as a seedy and disreputable, even dangerous, place," local historian Anthony Wappel wrote in his 2008 book Once Upon Dickson.
Cory Tran, 28, of Springdale is too young to remember the bad old days. He said he spent much of his youth working odd jobs on Dickson Street. Tran owns Kraken Killer Seafood at 402 W. Dickson St., which opened in February.
The spot has been a variety of things in recent years. It became Green Submarine in 2014, and before that it was Rogue Pizza. Fayetteville natives probably remember it as the Gypsy before that venue moved.
Tran had his eye on the location for a while, and he just opened Kream, an ice cream shop on West Avenue.
New apartment complexes just a few blocks from Dickson have played a huge part in bringing a new face to the area, Tran said.
"I'm super excited to see what we'll have in the next few years," he said. "I'm definitely glad I got a little footprint."
The Sterling District, Gather Dickson, Champions Club and incoming Atmosphere Apartments all target students seeking off-campus housing. They've added hundreds of pairs of feet going up and down the street, not to mention The Dickson condominiums.
Dickson Street seemed like it was about to go through a revitalization around 2008, before the national economy went into recession, said Jim Minor, 50, of Springdale, who came out of Dickson Street Pub with a friend Wednesday.
That revitalization is in full force now, he said. Mixed-use development, the variety of businesses, improved parking, a wide-ranging appeal to families and college students and everyone in between has put Dickson on the right path, in Minor's eyes.
"It's a good strata," he said.
NW News on 09/05/2016