Idlewild Coffee Co. coming to 5th Street

There's a new tenant for the empty retail space at 300 E. Fifth St. at Second Avenue ... a sign is now on the door for Idlewild Coffee Co. ...



Idlewild takes over from another coffee shop — Southern Cross Coffee, which closed this past September after two and half years in service.

No word on who the owners are at the moment. They do have a placeholder website up...

Thanks to Steven for the photos and tip!

Spiritea debuts on 2nd Avenue

Spiritea is now open on the southeast corner of Second Avenue and Fifth Street.

This is the second outpost (third counting the one TK in Irvine, Calif.) for the fruit-and-milk tea shop, whose first location is in Vancouver.

EVG reader Carol from East 5th Street shared the opening news as well as these photos...







Spiritea reportedly brews all of their teas on the spot in a special Teapresso machine.

And here's a look at their offerings...



The space has gone under a drastic renovation in recent months... it had been vacant since 100% Healthy Blend (or maybe just Healthy Blend) closed after three months in November 2016. Previous tenants include the Mexican restaurants Dahlia's and Mary Ann's.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tea time for 2nd Avenue and 5th Street

Tea time for 2nd Avenue and 5th Street

Signage is up for the new tenant at 300 E. Fifth. at Second Avenue — Spiritea (thanks to Carol from East 5th Street and Derek Berg for the tip!) ...



This is the second outpost for the fruit-and-milk tea shop, whose first location is in Richmond outside Vancouver (one is also opening in Irvine, Calif.).



A local food site had this to say about the location that opened in late 2018 in Richmond, B.C.:

What sets Spiritea apart from other tea shops is that they brew all of their teas on the spot in a special Teapresso machine. They use premium tea leaves, fresh fruit, Avalon Dairy organic milk and pure cane sugar made in France. Their focus is to provide the freshest and highest quality ingredients without the use of artificial fruit syrups or powders.

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A post shared by SPIRITEA DRINKS (@spiriteadrinks) on Jan 7, 2019 at 3:42pm PST

Signage here points to an opening this month.

Workers have been renovating this corner space, which was Mary Ann's for years before the Mexican restaurant morphed into Dahlia's.

The storefront has sat empty since 100% Healthy Blend (or maybe just Healthy Blend) closed after three months in November 2016.

New storefront reveal at 300 E. 5th St.

[Photo by Derek Berg]

Workers have removed the plywood from the under-renovation storefront on the southeast corner of Second Avenue and Fifth Street (officially 300 E. Fifth St.).

No word yet who the new tenant is. (Anyone happen to know what's coming here?) The work permits on file with the city note "interior renovation of existing store into eating & drinking establishment."

The storefront now looks similar to the other gut-renovated businesses on the Fifth Street side, which were billed as the Shops on East Fifth Street by the broker leasing the spaces in the summer of 2016.

This corner was Mary Ann's for years before the Mexican restaurant morphed into Dahlia's, which was later busted for reportedly serving a lot of minors in early 2016. The corner has sat empty since 100% Healthy Blend (or maybe just Healthy Blend) closed after three months in November 2016.

Gut renovating the former Mary Ann's space on 2nd Avenue

Workers have been doing some major excavating of late in the empty corner storefront on Second Avenue and Fifth Street... One of the workers told EVG Interior Demolition Contributor Derek Berg, who took the shots below, that there were multiple layers of floor and ceiling here... (some cheap-o and quick-o renovations from the past...)





The work permits don't shed much, if any, light on the next tenant. The permits say, in the ALL-CAP DOBese:

INTERIOR ALTERATIONS INCLUDING REMOVAL OF NON-LOAD BEARING PARTITIONS AND FINISHES, REPLACE CELLAR SLAB ON GRADE, REPLACE 1ST FLOOR WOOD JOISTS WITH METAL JOISTS, METAL DECK AND CONCRETE SLAB; PLUMBING ALTERATIONS INCLUDING REMOVAL AND REPLACEMENT OF FIXTURES.

The space was last 100% Healthy Blend (or maybe just Healthy Blend), which closed last November after three months ... and previously it was the underage-drinking hotspot Dahlia's and Mary Ann's.

Cash in the shade on East 5th Street

[EVG photo from yesterday]

Earlier today we mentioned that the liquor store, check-cashing shop and Today's Cut hair salon at 300 E. Fifth St. just east of Second Avenue have been closed this week due to some structural issues in the building.

Word is some unlicensed work in one of the apartments led to a tenant putting his or her foot through the floor. So the city hit several apartments and the ground-floor businesses with a vacate order.

Not good for business, obviously. Bourad at Today's Cut is cutting hair five doors to the east at 304 E. Fifth St. in the meantime.

And Jaime (aka "The Tall Guy"), the longtime proprietor of the checking-cashing shop, is operating out of this armored van in front of his storefront. He tells EVG contributor Derek Berg that he will go out of business soon if he has to continue to run his business this way...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

And here is a storefront shot from last January via Goggla ...