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Comings and goings in downtown and southtown

In case you are wondering what happened to the New Chelsea Market, the business has moved out of its downtown location and announced on Facebook that the store will reopen in the Chelsea Shopping Center at the southwest corner of Old US-12 and M-52.

Chelsea Shopping Center

The New Chelsea Market, owned by Kevin Riley and Francisca Fernandez, is expected to occupy the former Chelsea Pharmacy site in the strip mall.

“This is great news as we will have over 7,500 square feet,” the owners said on their Facebook page, but they did not give a reopening date.

Taking the New Chelsea Market’s place at the corner of Main and Parks streets is new tenant, Smokehouse 52, a BBQ restaurant. The space is already under renovation and a fall opening is expected by owner Phil Tolliver.

 

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2 thoughts on “Comings and goings in downtown and southtown”

  1. Thanks for the info, Lisa. I wondered what was happening with the market; glad to see they’ll still be around. Also looking forward to a new restaurant in Chelsea.

  2. Our visit to Smokehouse 52 in Chelsea on Sunday March 3, 1013
    My wife and I eat out and travel quite a bit and we decided, along with my 30 year old daughter to visit the Smokehouse 52 in Chelsea which had just opened in Chelsea a few weeks before. Having a weakness for BBQ we decided to give it a try. We have had BBQ at other restaurants in Michigan, Texas, St. Louis, New Orleans and Memphis.

    We arrived at noon on Sunday and were seated in the bar room. There were about 10 to 12 people total in the restaurant. We ordered an appetizer which were beef biscuit tips.at around 12:15. They were served in about 10 minutes and a tray of about 4 or 5 BBQ sauces was placed on the able. My daughter ordered a bowl of chili.

    When ordering our selections we noted that the prices seemed out of line for a BQ of this nature. My beef biscuit was quite flat and under seasoned and the chili was very thick and also under seasoned. We said nothing and waited for our main entrees. Our order was placed at 12:20 and we were still waiting. My wife found someone to talk to asking where the food was and she said she would go and check. Meanwhile our waitress was standing behind the bar which was closed and doing nothing, She did not have a clue as to what was going on. Finally at 1:10 PM our food was served.

    My daughter ordered macaroni and cheese which was a little different that the norm and she could not finish it. My wife ordered a BBQ chicken sandwich with a berry sort of salad and found the chicken burned on the outside and void of the real BBQ taste. My beef biscuit was flat and under seasoned the side dish of mac and cheese was borderline dry and the collard greens were very good.

    The whole afternoon turned out to be quite a bad experience. When the bill came I went into sticker shock. For the three of us the bill was $63.00 before tip. The quality of the food was below par ad the service could have used a real tune up. The price included I ice tea and 2 diet cokes. A half slab of ribs was $18.00 and the full slag was 25.00.

    Last week we dined at Mitchells Seafood with sodas and cocktails for $78.00 with tip which included 1 scallop dinner and two swordfish dinners. No doubt this will be our last visit to Smokehouse 52. Food prices out of line and the service is poor.
    Two doors over is Cleary’s Pub with very good food at reasonable prices and across the street the Common Grill with very well prepared food at prices that reflect the community they are serving and serving well.

    We are also looking forward to two new restaurants almost ready to open, one which is a micro brewery in the old clock tower and another restaurant in the old post office.

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