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mmmm, sprawl. Montgomery covers a huge land area, so while these are in the 'city' they are miles and miles from the core.

Rapid-fire retail openings cash in on eastside boom

By Deborah Willoughby
Montgomery Advertiser

If traffic ever slowed long enough for you to stand in the middle of the intersection of Taylor and Vaughn roads, you could look out over enough retail outlets to satisfy a small city.

Hungry? There's Flip's, Backyard Burgers, Steak-Out, Applebee's, Sommer's Place, Taco Bell, Buffalo Wild Wings, Marble Slab Creamery, Atlanta Bread Co., Mellow Mushroom, McDonald's, Sinclair's Restaurant and a Pizza Hut takeout store. Not to mention the deli counters at Publix and Winn Dixie or the Subway at the Chevron station.

Want more options? Wait until Kabuki Japanese Steakhouse, Quiznos and Doc Green's open at Cornerstone.

If you drip ketchup on your suit jacket, you can drop it at the cleaners or shop for a replacement. The four corners of Taylor and Vaughn are home to banks, hair and nail salons, jewelry stores, a chiropractor, pharmacies, a movie theater and a paint-your-own pottery place.

As stores continue to open at Cornerstone, the shopping centers and neighboring businesses at Taylor and Vaughn offer an array of goods and services for the booming east side of town.

"Everything is moving to this side of Montgomery," said Mike Henby. "It's a boom, that's for sure. Everywhere you look, there's something popping up."

Henby, who lives in Millbrook, sells wine for MBC United. Retail growth across Montgomery creates more potential customers. "It's great for me," he said.

Amanda Reed, who works at Spirits at Sturbridge, said, "Look at the parking lot. Look at the traffic. Business is just cropping up left and right. It has a lot to do with the people who live in the neighborhood, and there are a lot of exclusive shops in this part of town. Plus this is the newest part of town, and we've already seen the older part of Montgomery."

Traffic is heavy along Vaughn and Taylor roads. As the city's maintenance department prepared to begin resurfacing work on Vaughn Road from East Boulevard to Taylor, a traffic engineer estimated that 40,000 people use Vaughn Road every day.

Some merchants said the road work comes at a bad time, just before Christmas shopping begins, but several said shoppers will find them just fine, coming in on Taylor Road from Interstate 85 or the Troy Highway.

The road work won't deter people who live in the area. Housing is cropping up along Taylor and Vaughn, creating a steady increase in the customer base for east side businesses.

John Bemis, senior vice president of the shopping center group for Aronov Realty Management Inc., the developer of Cornerstone, said more retailers in east Montgomery mean a better quality of life for the people who live there.

"The growth in east Montgomery has, for the past five years, been the most substantial growth corridor in the River Region," Bemis said. "Given the amount of rooftops that are under construction and are planned for development, that growth will continue for the foreseeable future. Retail follows rooftops."

Construction is continuing at Cornerstone, and several stores already are open.

"We're very excited about the performance of Stein Mart and Publix following their grand openings last month, and we have several specialty tenants which will be opening over the next 60 days," Bemis said.

What else is coming to Cornerstone? Starbucks, Hibbett Sports and Marquirette's Jewelry.

"Doc Green's is new to Montgomery. It's a very exciting salad and fresh food concept that the people in Montgomery are going to love," Bemis said.

Brenda Reid, public relations manager for Publix, said the Cornerstone grocery store, the company's third in Montgomery, has been well-received.

"It is our largest store in Montgomery to date," Reid said. "We're delighted to be there at the beginning of a growth phase for Montgomery. With all of the retail as well as the housing development that is going on around there, we feel we are positioned to become an anchored part of that community."

More established businesses are doing well, too, as anyone who has stood in line to see a popular movie at the Rave on a Friday night can attest.

"Festival Plaza has had tremendous success since its opening in December of 2000 with the national debut of Rave Motion Pictures. Rave generates a dominant market share in the theater business," said David McClinton, senior vice president of McClinton & Co. Inc., the developer of Festival Plaza. "We are now under way with another expansion that will add approximately 75,000 square feet of office space and retail shops. We look for the growth in east Montgomery to continue and are excited to have a top-notch location in such a great area of the city."

Across the street at Sturbridge Village, Mary Marshall was enjoying her new role as owner of Lasting Impressions, a gift boutique that features home accents. Marshall is happy to see the retail growth at Taylor and Vaughn. To her, more businesses mean more shoppers.

"This is a great area to be," she said. "I don't consider more retail growth to be a threat. I consider it a great draw to the area that will benefit my business. I'm from Atlanta, so I am familiar with the excitement that comes with growth. It means new offerings and new choices."

The fast-growing housing developments in the area provide many shoppers for retailers in east Montgomery. But some of stores attract shoppers from around the region, looking for products and services they can't find elsewhere.

On Monday, Ann Bowie, drove to Cornerstone from her home near White Hall in Lowndes County.

"I love Publix," Bowie said. "I come to Montgomery just to shop.