LOUSIVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- It's been a bad week on Bardstown Road with some big businesses announcing they'll soon be history.
Yang Kee Noodle suddenly shut down on Thursday.
“This location did not meet our expectations, and we are going to focus on our other two locations which are doing well," the owner said in a statement to WDRB.
Yang Kee Noodle is just across the street from the former Mellow Mushroom, which has sat empty for a year. Rent for that building starts at $16,000 dollars a month.
Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen is closed.
The North End Café just announced it’s closing. The owners say they’re spread too thin running their other location on Frankfort Avenue.
The owner of The Fat Lamb on Bardstown Road and Grinstead Drive, Dallas McGarity, has watched big changes happen on that corner.
“You see that influx of new businesses popping up all the time in old spaces,” McGarity said. “Businesses are being replaced with other businesses. Sapporo is going in at Buffalo Wild Wings, and they just left recently.”
McGarity says it’s rare for buildings to sit empty for very long. The former Cahoots is now Nirvana. Dunkin Donuts is now Heine Brothers.
Many bars and restaurants, like Taco Luchador and Big Bar, are expanding.
McGarity says the key to success on Bardstown Road is flexibility.
“Being independent in the Highlands, I think is essential to being in the Highlands," he said. "A lot of the chain businesses, they might have systems in place from some other place. They can’t really change stuff that easily. They have their systems in place, and they can't adapt.”
There will always be challenges for businesses on Bardstown Road, like parking and increased crime.
Another challenge might be “learning how to handle the panhandler or the individual that might wonder into your business that's confuse or misplaced,” according to the president of the Highlands Commerce Guild, Aaron Givhan.
Givhan says that's the cost of prosperity and doing business in a destination.
“If you didn't have this craziness, you're not growing,” Givhan said.
Givhan adds the Highlands will only continue to grow and evolve as more people move to the neighborhood. He says the success of independent businesses could drive more chains to open nearby.
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