Bar and restaurant owners in East Nashville’s Five Points neighborhood are just happy to see 1016 Woodland St. occupied — even if it’s with local hot chicken chain Party Fowl.
In a cosmic changing of the guard, Party Fowl opened on May 11 as part of its post-bankruptcy run of new locations — and this weekend, right across the street, beloved independent restaurant Margot Café & Bar will close after 25 years in business.
“I’m glad to have something in there,” says Sara Nelson when asked about the Party Fowl space. She’s the owner of nearby Five Points bar Duke’s, which opened in 2015. “I hate all of those empty storefronts. It’s a bummer. I always say the best thing to happen to a bar is for another bar to open next door.”
Margot McCormack explains her decision to close her acclaimed East Nashville restaurant after 25 years
Restaurant and bar Tenn Sixteen closed in 2019; for a time after that, the building was occupied by 5 Points Diner and Bar, which closed in 2024. Next door, the former home of 3 Crow Bar at 1024 Woodland St. still sits vacant after 3 Crow’s replacement, Buds & Brews, closed in June 2025. The company behind the THC-infused-drink establishment bought the space in September 2023 for $5.2 million, and the business — which opened in July 2024 — survived for just one year.
In 2005, the to-be owners of 3 Crow bought the site for $375,000. Today, rent is $19,900 per month.
Even if 3 Crow had survived the toxic mix of an upheaval over ownership changes and a post-pandemic decline in business, it still might not be around today. That’s according to Coral Smith, bar manager at bar and venue The 5 Spot and a former 3 Crow bartender.
“East Nashville is just not what it used to be,” Smith says. “It used to be cool and artsy. Now with Party Fowl and BoomBozz Pizza — those things are not cool. They’re super mainstream. The reason places that were cool and small businesses came to East Nashville is because it was affordable, and it’s not anymore.”
Margot Café & Bar
The 5 Spot owner Todd Sherwood paints a picture of the glory days of the neighborhood: Wednesday night at 3 Crow, 100 people between the ages of 21 and 40 show up for 2-for-1 drink specials. Most of them are in bands, and they show up for each other’s shows at The 5 Spot, perhaps ending the night with a Beyond the Edge quesadilla. The nostalgia is potent.
“People used to hang out and then go to the gas station at 3 a.m. and buy a case of beer and keep on hanging out all night,” Sherwood says. “Not that it’s healthy or whatever, but I think people were happier and socializing more and enjoying every single night, rather than going home and staying at home.”
Perhaps what Five Points used to offer has migrated to other parts of town, Sherwood observes. The circuit of Vinyl Tap and the 2023-opened Schulman’s Neighborhood Bar a bit further north seems to be thriving, as is a bar-hop on Woodland Street between Lakeside Lounge, Ernie’s Boondock and Lowbar, among others.
Sherwood admits he’s still trying to figure out what people who come to Five Points desire today. He didn’t think East Nashvillians would embrace things like Whataburger, 7 Brew or a New York-bred outpost like Skinny Dennis.
“Being cool is what will eventually kill it off,” he says of Five Points. “People with a lot of money try to be cool too, and they’re not cool, and their money ends up ruining it, because they raise the prices on everything. They fix things up too much.”
Nelson adds, “This neighborhood has changed a lot, but it’s really tenacious. People like what they like. They really want things that feel local and not overly curated. People want something that feels like their neighborhood and not a neighborhood that you could find anywhere.”
Five Points staple Cumberland Hardware was already beating the odds back in 2009 when late Scene editor Jim Ridley wrote about the importance of supporting small businesses. Earlier this year, owners John and Sheila Varallo told WKRN that the lack of free parking in the area is “killing them,” but the store remains in operation. Five Points Pizza is holding onto its mainstay status too.
Venerable Five Points venue offers passes good for future shows to help with current financial losses
As for the Margot space at 1017 Woodland St., owner Margot McCormack did veto at least a couple of “stupid ideas” for her space after she departs. But the sale of Margot is her retirement, she tells the Scene, and she has to get as much money as she can from it. She had the rare opportunity to buy the site from her landlord for $730,000 in 2015, according to Metro records.
McCormack remembers a time when she saw headlights coming down the road and knew people must be coming to her restaurant — they were the only ones there. She also recalls the days of describing her location as “10 blocks east of Nissan Stadium.”
McCormack likens the early days of Margot and other small businesses to childhood friends playing in the sandbox together. She doesn’t know the owners of the newcomers like Party Fowl, or Edley’s Bar-B-Que and Bartaco nearby. They haven’t reached out to her, and she hasn’t reached out to them.
“Now the sandbox is different,” McCormack says. “The people are different. We don’t have as much in common, I don’t think, even though we’re all entrepreneurs.”
She continues: “We’re getting those kinds of crowds which are very touristy, and they don’t care who they’re supporting. They’re just here to have a good time, and sometimes their good time is too much of a good time for me. I definitely don’t want the neighborhood to go in that direction, but when you lose all your local flavor, that’s kind of what happens.”
Correction: A previous version of this article omitted mention of 5 Points Diner and Bar. We apologize for the error.
