With the arrival of the holiday shopping season, new businesses are opening in downtown Meridian.

Two restaurants, an expanded boutique and a specialty food shop are among the new names in the downtown and North Hills areas.

The newly remodeled DT Grinders — set to open next month — and Dontea’s Seafood & BBQ on Fifth  Street are two of the new restaurants downtown, both of which will offer live entertainment.

Located on Front Street and 22nd Avenue is Crooked Letter, an expanded boutique which owner Debbie Mathis calls “a Mississippi Marketplace.”

Crooked Letter, which offers specialty products such as jewelry, pottery, art, coffee, candles, soaps, lotions and unique food items, opened on Oct. 7.

“Everything we sell is made in Mississippi,” said Mathis, a Meridian native.

Crooked Letter is across the street from the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience, and Mathis believes she chose the “perfect location.”

“I feel an energy in downtown Meridian like I’ve never felt before,” she said. “There are good things happening — people like me who are willing to step out and take a little bit of a risk and people in general that are willing to invest in downtown.”

With the recent announcement of the Mississippi Children’s Museum satellite in Meridian, Mathis says it’s an exciting time to be downtown.

“That’s going to be huge,” Mathis said of The MAX and the Children’s Museum. “We already have a huge number of visitors tied to our area every day. We felt like with all the energy and the good things happening downtown, there’s a lot of revitalization, and it made sense to put our business downtown.”

Dontea’s, which opened earlier this month, is located in the historic African-American business district on Fifth Street. Owner Dontea Cross has brought what he calls “the best seafood and barbecue in town” to the new restaurant, located in the old Sportsman’s Club building.

Replete with a full ballroom-style dining room, a bar, a private dining area upstairs and a back patio/garden, Dontea’s is set to be part of the 5th Street renaissance.

DT Grinders, located at 1600 24th Avenue, is under new management.

Tom and Ashley Walker Brown hope to reopen Meridian’s well-known hot spot some time in December.

“This town needed something to revive it,” said Brown, who hails from Los Angeles. He and Ashley Brown, owner of Stitchin Krazy LLC in Meridian, purchased the property in September. “This old building was falling apart, and it needed somebody to save it — and we decided to save it.”

So far, the plan is to be open for lunch and dinner, with a menu that focusses primarily on steak and seafood and various other combinations. With years of experience as a chef, Brown says he hopes to bring a unique taste to Meridian.

“We’re using all top-of-the-line beef, nothing less than that,” said Brown, who added that live music, karaoke and trivia will likely be a regular part of DT Grinders’ entertainment. “We’re talking to the former owner to see what he did.”

Brown said the first floor will operate as a restaurant, the second floor a bar, and the third will be used for events.

Debby Delshad of the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation agrees that downtown is coming back to life.

“For our size town and the potential of everything that’s coming, with the Children’s Museum and The MAX, we probably need about six more restaurants,” Delshad said. “Restaurants will be the draw. If restaurants come, then I believe retail will come after that.”

Steve LaBiche, owner of LaBiche Jewelers downtown, also hopes to see downtown flourish.

“I kind of think it’s been going on for the last 10 years,” LaBiche said. “Downtown has been coming back a little bit at a time.

“Now it’s coming back around where downtown is the next growing place again. I feel like downtown businesses are more likely to be customer service-oriented, and I think that’s making a difference with people.”

LaBiche also owns the old Bible Bookstore building at 9th Street and 23rd Avenue, where he plans to move in the next two or three years.

“I’m doing all I can to get in there,” LaBiche said.

In the North Hills area, EMBDC recently held a ribbon cutting for Fudge Etcetera, located at 5011 Poplar Springs Drive.

Operating in the area for more than 25 years, Fudge Etcetera now has a brick-and-mortar store in Meridian. The family business, owned by Janet and Wallace Heggie, offers more than 25 flavors of fudge.  

Shop Small Y’all

Meridian Main Street invites shoppers to Shop Small Y’all this weekend for Small Business Saturday. Local merchants including AOTECH Computers, LaBiche Jewelers, Sam’s Fashions and Uptown Girl will be open for business to area shoppers. Main Street encourges shoppers to contact downtown merchants for store hours.