What opened and closed in the Chattanooga region in January 2022

Dave Flessner, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tenn.
·4 min read

Feb. 9—As 2022 begins, approaching the two-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic, local businesses continue to adjust to changes in buying and work patterns caused by the virus outbreak. During January, some retailers and businesses moved into vacant storefronts, plants and offices with expanded operations while other businesses shut down some sites or operations. Many businesses began preparations for new operations and stores set to open later this year.

Here's a look at what's opening and what closed in January in the Chattanooga area:

What's opening

Gabe's is preparing to open another, bigger location in East Brainerd at the former Stein Mart store location in Hamiton Village. The new store, scheduled to open in mid-March, will replace a smaller Gabe's store now operated just down the street at 2288 Gunbarrel Road.

Solutions Oriented Services, an automotive reconditioning business started by Cleveland, Tennessee, native Chad Roberts, has opened a detailing and reconditioning business at the former Cleveland airport to serve the growing e-commerce car retailer Vroom. The operation will initially have about 60 workers, and Roberts hopes to grow the business to about 200 employees to rival a similar company he operates in Houston.

The Lodge at Fall Creek Falls, an 85-room inn at the 29,800-acre state park on the Cumberland Plateau, opened in January. The $40 million facility replaced the old lodge that was demolished in 2018.

Goodwill Industries is preparing to open its "opportunity campus" in April at a renovated, former Olan Mills processing facility in the Bonny Oaks Industrial Park. The new facility will include warehouse operations for reclaiming donated goods, the local Goodwill offices and training facilities for workers.

Just Love Coffee Cafe and a Hotworx exercise and fitness facility will open this summer on the first floor of the River Rock apartments built at Walnut and Fourth streets in downtown Chattanooga.

(Be) Caffeinated , the Chattanooga-based coffee retailer that began in Red Bank in 2018, will open its fourth location this spring at 1263 E. Third St. across from Warner Park.

Vascular Institute opened another clinic in Dayton, Tennessee. The institute already operates four other clinics in Chattanooga and Cleveland, Tennessee.

Plant Candy Collective, a tropical houseplant and coffee retailer that started operating in downtown Chattanooga two years ago as a pop-up business, opened a storefront location at 2265 Gunbarrel Road.

Southeastern Trust, a Chattanooga-based chartered trust company that has nearly doubled its assets under management since spinning off from Atlantic Capital four years ago, opened another office in Atlanta's Buckhead community.

What's closing

Sav A Lot on Dayton Boulevard closed, leaving Red Bank with one full-service grocery store. Sav A Lot, which also recently closed a store on Lee Highway in Chattanooga, opened more than two decades ago on the site of what was originally a Kroger supermarket. Rise Partners is seeking to convert the Sav A Lot and surrounding shopping center into 38 townhomes with offices and other commercial development.

The SkyZoo nightclub, which the city tried to close last year as a public nuisance, will shut down this year after the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport buys the Lee Highway bar for $950,000 for future airport-related activities. A planning study in 2019 said the site could hold a hotel along with retail and office space.

Resolute Forest Products, formerly Bowater, is shutting down the last of its pulp and paper operations at its Calhoun, Tennessee, mill. The move will force the layoffs of 350 workers and is intended to cut ongoing losses at the Calhoun mill, which will continue to produce tissue paper.

Volkswagen produced its last Passat in Chattanooga at the end of 2021, a decade after VW began making the popular sedan in Chattanooga for the North American market. The production lines used for the Passat are being switched to make the ID.4 sports utility vehicle as part of an $800 million investment at the plant.

Einstein Brothers Bagels closed its restaurant on East Brainerd Road in December, less than 15 months after rebuilding the storefront that was damaged in April 2020 from the series of tornadoes that ripped through East Brainerd. Einstein continues to operate an outlet in Hixson.

What's coming

The owner of the vacant Chattanooga Bank Building at Market and Eight streets is proposing to renovate the 10-story structure into a boutique hotel with a Tapestry Collection by Hilton nameplate. A $40 million makeover of the 95-year-old building could start in August or September, with a projected opening in 2023.

Milk & Honey is being expanded on the Northshore. The Monen Restaurant Group continues to expand its footprint in the Chattanooga area with plans to more than double the square footage of its Milk & Honey location on the North Shore, and to completely makeover both Market South on Main Street and the Sticky Fingers Hamilton Place location, according to Mike Monen.

Chattanooga Airport announced plans for its biggest terminal expansion to add three gates, another security checkpoint and more restrooms and concession space in the concourse as part of a $28 million overhaul.

Taimen Transport purchased the former Coyote Jacks's on Cowart Street downtown and expects to spend $3 million to upgrade the 21,000-square-foot to house its growing freight logistics headquarters.