Get to know these businesses that keep Rochester's 19th Ward thriving
Thriving businesses. Colorful street art. Great conversations and a few plates of excellent chicken and waffles.
On a sunny spring afternoon, a group of Democrat & Chronicle journalists headed to the 19th Ward for lunch and a stroll. The goal: to learn more about the neighborhood through the locally owned businesses that keep the community humming, from restaurants to retail shops to places that promote health and wellness.
(Over the coming months, we’ll be stopping in at businesses in other neighborhoods across the Rochester area and sharing the rich stories we find. Where should we head next? Let us know.)
The richly diverse 19th Ward, in the southwest part of the city, is one of Rochester's biggest neighborhoods. Its residents take pride in the motto “Urban, by choice.” Across decades, movers and shakers in the neighborhood have helped overcome many social challenges.
Today, this community is home to people of all walks of life. And with the leadership of organizations like the 19th Ward Community Association, residents are able to come together for events such as the Square Fair and Ease On Down Thurston to celebrate the neighborhood's diversity, ingenuity and resilience.
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On this April afternoon, our first stop in the 19th Ward was Arnett Cafe, which offers "dining with a Southern flair." We enjoyed their signature chicken and waffles for lunch, then visited the Arnett Branch Library.
From the corner of Rugby Avenue to Genesee Street and on Thurston Avenue from Brooks to Ravenwood Avenue, we walked the sidewalk to explore the colorful street art, talk with residents and business owners and take in other things the neighborhood has to offer.
What did we learn? This community is the home for many businesses and organizations that aim to help sustain its residents by providing quality health, retail, food and religious services. Its tapestry of businesses is just as rich as the community that calls the 19th Ward home.
Here are some of the businesses that help the 19th Ward thrive:
Rolling with the punches on Scottsville Road
Dwayne McKinney, a lithe 59-year-old Rochester native, has run Unified Tae Kwon-Do at 202 Scottsville Road, near Route 390, for the past 25 years. McKinney got his start teaching a program at the Boys & Girls Clubs on Genesee Street and moved to the corner of Genesee Street and Brooks Avenue before he purchased the Scottsville Road building in order to ensure a stable location.
For McKinney, teaching the martial art that has been his first love since the 1970s is more than the sport or physical fitness. It's also about giving his students the discipline, focus and confidence that will serve them at school and in their lives.
His student enrollment is predominantly Black, and he’s keenly aware that his role is also to be a role model. “If I can teach these kids to walk with self-respect, having that courtesy for themselves, their parents and each other, that indomitable spirit not to ever give up ― you know, that's it right there,” he said.
Serving the health of the community
In 2012, the same year the Genesee Brew House opened, Mike Weston, his wife and two children moved to the 19th Ward.
“We fell in love with the community of Rochester,” says Weston.
In 2021, Weston became the executive director for His Branches Inc., a nonprofit community health center on Arnett Boulevard, between Rugby and Warwick Avenue. Weston found a deep appreciation for the city’s history, specifically that of the 19th Ward, and has sought to help heal the community the best way he knows how.
There's nothing quite like a barbershop
Keith Warren and Ronnie Davis are the co-owners of Visions Barbershop. The duo has been cutting hair in the 19th Ward since the early '90s, occupying different buildings and using various names until they found the perfect space at 511 Thurston Road.
Warren believes, "There's a difference between barbers and people who cut hair."
Whether it's guiding troubled youth, giving relationship advice, or discussing the state of Black America, the barbershop has historically been an "information center," according to Warren.
Generations come to this tailor
On a Tuesday afternoon, in the wake of a humming Easter week, Ali Aksoy works in his 19th-ward fashion store, Ali's Tailor Shop, watching Turkish news and admiring the excellent weather on Thurston Road.
"In Rochester, business is slower; it's not like it used to be," he said. "Too many companies are closing and moving. But I'm still going up every year. I'm strong."
The business has no website or social media presence, relying on old-school word of mouth for promotion, just as Aksoy wants. Word of the tailor's work not only gets around town, it's passed down through generations.
See the shop behind Rochester's best dressed
Inside Fashion Flair Women's Shop at 585 Brooks Ave., the chic garments come with the expert eye of their owner.
"I've been around clothes all my life," Martinez says while sitting inside her store, a modest space where she holds engaging conversations with her customers, eventually pinpointing their size and style.
"All I have to do is look at you once," she says.
The native Mississippian grew up with a seamstress for a mother. All she saw was "clothes, clothes everywhere."
She loves watching people transform in her store when they buy something and begin to feel good about themselves.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: The 19th Ward has a range of businesses in Rochester NY: Take a look
