When the cat’s away, the mice will play. That phrase definitely describes me, Bethany Porter and Sheila Fann this week. Southern Standard editor James Clark, our fearless leader, put us in charge of his Business Pulse and we ran amuck.
Enchanted Planet
The former home of Nana’s Restaurant at Sunnyside Heights has new ownership and is receiving a facelift to prepare for Enchanted Planet. Owner and operator Shawn Berbert has purchased the building to add to his already existing locations in Manchester and Murfreesboro.
Enchanted Planet will offer a variety of eclectic personal space items including wood carvings, lamps, posters, wind chimes and more. The clothing line will include T-shirts and Bahas. A large array of CBD and Kratom products will be available along with smoking accessories.
Speaking on the new location, Berber said, “I’m hoping to be a good fit for the good people of Warren County. I have been looking at McMinnville for years and live centrally between the three areas of Manchester, Murfreesboro and McMinnville. Also, I have customers who drive from here to our other locations so it just made sense to come here.”
Residents won’t have long to wait.
“We are hoping for a soft opening in mid-October followed by with a grand opening in November,” said Berbert. “We will have drawings, food trucks and more.”
Though a facelift is in progress, there will be items which will be reminiscent of the former Nana’s Restaurant. Berber said he will be keeping and refurbishing the old counter and also the tile walkway in the spirit of walking forward into the future.
UCHRA eyes more
bus routes
Warren County government is looking to relocate UCHRA out of its Administrative Office Building on Locust Street. Rather than taking that rejection negatively, Upper Cumberland Development District executive director Mark Farley is seeing an opportunity to expand.
“We really view this as a good opportunity to expand this public transportation and truly build a transportation hub here in Warren County,” said Farley.
The first and most visible program UCHRA offers is UCARTS.
“We are very proud of the service we provide here,” said Farley. “We offer, basically, three services here in Warren County. One, the newest program we have, is the deviated fixed route. That’s what you see running. We have a couple vans running at all times throughout the day going to fixed locations.”
Second, is Go Upper Cumberland.
“We also have our standard go transportation,” he said. “If someone needs public transit, you can catch a ride to where ever you need to go in Warren County for $1. We just ask that you call ahead of time so we can schedule it. We do lots of runs for doctors’ visits, the dialysis clinic, and even to work. We provide basic transportation needs on the schedule that anyone needs.”
Third is connecting Warren County to other communities.
“Our biggest one that we have is we provide connectivity outside Warren County,” he said. “Daily, we run trips to Murfreesboro to the VA, to Nashville to the airport, to Manchester, Tullahoma, Winchester, and Cookeville. We do one day a week to Chattanooga. That’s the one we want to grow. We want to expand our trips to Chattanooga.”
No date was given for creating a transportation hub in Warren County. Currently under consideration is the purchase of property for the move. At this time, 509 Sparta Street, the former location of Crouch Motor Company, is being considered.
Dollar General
Warren County’s latest Dollar General is under construction on Smithville Highway. Even before the doors slide open for its first customer, a request has been made to sell beer.
The county Beer Board is slated to meet this Monday, Oct. 11. On its agenda is to review Off-Premises beer permit for Dolgencorp LLC, which is for the Dollar General located at 4763 Smithville Highway.
Rock Island
Trolley Stop
Serving the ice cream needs of Rock Island residents and visitors since September 2020, Rock Island Trolley Stop celebrated one year.
The Rock Island Trolley Stop celebrated its first anniversary this past September.
“It’s been busy,” said manager April Ball. “Now that the winter months are coming in things are starting to slow down, but we are going to start selling different foods like we are having Taco Tuesdays.”
Opening was just a single trolley cart in a lot with a few picnic tables. Over the last year, they have built a pavilion to cover the guests while they enjoy their trolley treats, added multiple games for the kids to enjoy like large Jenga, and added many more picnic tables. They have also added an additional trolley cart that will start serving coffee drinks soon.
Along with the cosmetic changes, they have had changes to their menu. This past Tuesday was the first Taco Tuesday. Served were taco salads and planned is to offer more weekly food specials when the second trolley is operational.
Another sweet addition to the menu are the Donut Screams. These are basically donut ice cream sandwich sundaes and they look as good as they sound.
The Freak Shakes remain a fan favorite at the trolley.
For fall, they have created a shake called, “Out of the Pumpkin Patch” that is perfect for pumpkin lovers. It is a pumpkin spice shake with a caramel drizzle and a graham cracker rim topped with pumpkin yogurt pretzels, pumpkin roll cake, and a vanilla wafer cookie.
The Rock Island Trolley Stop is located at 1189 Rock Island Road at the signature entrance arch of Rock Island.
That’s all folks
I highly anticipate the return of James Clark, as I’m sure you do as well. This section will end as it always does. Send me an email with your business tips at editor@southernstandard.com.
