The Midas Touch

Forrest Walden wanted to start his own business, a personal training and fitness facility that would be the start of a local franchise. As a 15-year Homewood resident, he had no doubts about where he wanted to start.

“There was no choice. I was opening in Homewood,” Walden said.

He opened the first Iron Tribe in February 2010 at 2740 Central Ave. There are now more than 40 Iron Tribe locations scattered across the U.S., but Walden said this hometown location continues to bring in the highest revenue and number of clients.

“It’s still the No. 1 store in the chain, and it’s our goal to keep it there,” Walden said.

Iron Tribe is not the only business to plant its roots in Homewood before expanding across the Birmingham area, the state or even the country. A few of those businesses include Express Oil Change, Urban Cookhouse, Little Donkey, Jinsei Sushi, Zoe’s Kitchen, Saw’s BBQ and O’Carr’s. Even Cracker Barrel picked Homewood to debut Holler & Dash, its new breakfast and lunch restaurant.

Some, like Walden, started with the intention of franchising. Others had only planned on a single location until their success made them reconsider. In talking with some of these business owners, many of them agreed that their businesses might have been successful starting in a lot of places, but Homewood definitely lent a helping hand.

“I think Homewood is like the greatest place in America to start a business,” said Jim Watkins, founder of Steel City Pops. The four-year-old location at 2821 Central Ave. is now one of 12 popsicle shops in Alabama, Texas and Kentucky.

Part of Homewood’s appeal for businesses is simply practical. John Cassimus, the former CEO of Zoe’s Kitchen and Jinsei Sushi, said the city is centrally located and has thousands of people living and working close by every day. On top of that, commuters flow through Homewood on their way to work downtown, and the city is close enough to make it a good lunch spot.

“I love the energy here and what’s going on,” Cassimus said. “I think Homewood is geographically, it’s dead center … it’s the most natural place for expansion.”

Jinsei now has one location in SoHo and one in Oxford, Mississippi. Cassimus’ parents Marcus and Zoe Cassimus, who still live in Homewood, started Zoe’s Kitchen in 1995. At the time, John Cassimus said, fast casual dining was a new concept.

“They wanted to have a location that the proximity was close to their friends — people who knew my mother and knew about her cooking,” John Cassimus said. “It was immediately really successful, and people really liked it.”

Zoe’s Kitchen now has about 180 stores nationwide and is publicly traded, with an average of three stores opening per month, John Cassimus said.

“Homewood’s always been a great place to do business,” agreed Ricky Brooks, who bought out the founder of Express Oil Change in 1996. Express Oil Change started in Homewood in the late 1970s, and its original location at 1717 27th Court S. is now joined by 250 other locations in 15 states.

Andrea Snyder, who opened Urban Cookhouse with her husband, David, in June 2010, decided to start in Homewood for the same reason: population. She said they “never looked anywhere else.”

“When you open your first business, you don’t know if it’s going to be successful or not,” Snyder said. “We were packed from Day 1.”

The original Urban Cookhouse at 2846 18th St. S. was joined by a Summit location about a year and a half after opening. There are now locations across Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina. Snyder said the next location will be in downtown Birmingham, at 1801 Fifth Ave. N., opening later this year.

“I think the secret is out that Homewood is the place to be for a restaurant,” Snyder said. “Everybody who visits Homewood, … they go out and spread the word, and word of mouth has been our best form of advertising.”

The Snyders lived in Crestwood when they opened the first Urban Cookhouse, but Snyder said their experience as business owners made them decide to become residents, too.

Besides the purely practical reasons to start a business in Homewood, several business owners cited more intangible reasons, too. For Walden, Homewood provided a unique sense of community that made Iron Tribe a natural fit. When they open new franchises, Walden said, frequently Iron Tribe franchisees have to work to create that community bond. With Homewood, it was already there.

“It just has natural community,” Walden said. “People get community, and it just has a great feel.”

Randy Adamy, who bought O’Henry’s Coffees with his wife, Mary Adamy, from founder Henry Bright in 1999, agreed that Homewood has a strong support base for its local businesses. Though O’Henry’s now has four locations — with ones in Tuscaloosa and Mountain Brook to come — and roasts beans for about 70 retailers, Randy Adamy said it’s rare for him to walk into the original 18th Street South location without seeing a regular he knows.

“Homewood supports local business, and they just continued to support us,” Randy Adamy said. “There’s a lot of places you can go for a cup of coffee. We need to be very grateful when they choose ours.”

He also noted that Homewood has changed a lot since Bright started his coffee shop in 1993.

“Homewood didn’t look very much like it does today in 1993. The streets were just being redone with the lights and the trees, and it looked a little run-down. That was just the beginning,” Randy Adamy said.

John Cassimus was one of several business owners who said high quality customer service and a “great culture” for employees endeared their businesses to Homewood before they expanded beyond it.

“We’re actually just doing something that we totally love doing,” Watkins agreed. “I think that’s a key ingredient.”

For Watkins, the people of Homewood mirror the crowd that Steel City Pops tries to draw in at every location: from students to young couples and families to seniors.

“The DNA of Homewood kind of feels like the DNA of our customers,” Watkins said. “I still feel like Homewood has a lot of pride in our beginnings.”

Their first location also has an emotional connection — Watkins proposed to his wife, Amy, at Homewood Central Park and their first apartment was on Central Avenue.

“We’re real sentimental about Homewood but Central Avenue in particular,” Jim Watkins said.

Whether they’ve stretched across the city or from coast to coast, the businesses that got their start in Homewood continue to contribute to the city’s culture and appeal for future business owners.

“The businesses of Homewood make it what it is,” Snyder said.