Business owners thriving in the Birmingham’s Uptown district

On Mar 1, 2024

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – The 4th Avenue District was once one of the only places black people could shop, eat, and own businesses. But decades later, they’ve expanded to one of the city’s most popular destinations.

Black businesses are booming in Uptown. Business owner Rod Conwell keeps the dreams of those before him in mind.

“They would say proud. They would say proud of you,” says Conwell. “They would say, continuing what was started when it was a lot more difficult. Not that this was an easy road for us, but it was a lot more difficult then due to the times with 4th Avenue and the blue light district was coming along.”

It all started with the vision of barber Byron Watts on the legendary 4th Avenue. He went on to open Nuke’s Barbershop, bringing someone very special along the way.

“Well, my son decided that he’s going to bring me out of the house. I started at home, working. He decided he wanted to get his own business, and he wanted me to come,” says Loretta Jordan, owner of Loretta’s Alterations.

Watts says this dream come true is something Civil Rights leaders would be celebrating.

“This is one of the things Dr. Martin Luther King is not turning over in his grave about. If he was to see how the black businesses especially have come from Fourth Avenue all the way up to uptown, I think he’d really be marching and hooping and hollering,” says Watts.

Eugene’s Hot Chicken owner Zebbie Carney joined the mother-son duo, bringing his own Nashville flavor to the Magic City.

“Just to see people smiling faces when they eat our products or when they go down to uptown Jazz and k and’s, it’s pretty special. We’re doing something right,” says Carney.

That success is blazing a trail for business owners like Kristal Bryant, owner of K&J’s Elegant Pastries.

“We’ve done a ton of celebrity cakes. I mean, people reach out to me in other states,” says Bryant. “You know, if they didn’t do those things, we wouldn’t be able to do what we wanted to do. We are able to live out our dream because they made the sacrifices, and that makes me emotional.”

Cornell Wesley, director of the city’s Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity, says businesses like these are putting Birmingham on the map.

“We are not stuck in 1963,” says Wesley. “We are in 2024. “It’s great that they’re taking notice, but it shouldn’t stop there. We need the rest of the country to take notice of what Birmingham is doing.”

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