The new shops in town

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Convenience just got a lot easier for residents of the Town of Mt Laurel off U.S. 280.

In March, the former Stone’s Throw fine-dining restaurant was reopened as Mr. Harry’s Chickin De-Lux, a casual restaurant that co-owner and chef Chris Harrigan says has more customer appeal to a broader audience. On April 1, Cheryl Harper held the grand opening of Simply Infused, an olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting room.

Lucky Dog Grooming & Boutique owners Alyssa Hall and Magan Hall recently began offering services for dog owners, giving them a place inside Mt Laurel to take their pets for baths and haircuts. And last fall, Casey Crane opened E&E Hardware adjacent to Mr. Harry’s on the entranceway to the Mt Laurel town center.

Julianna Vance, marketing and communications manager for Mt Laurel, said those new businesses and others on the way, including the 41 Mercantile general store, have added much-needed services to the community.

 “From retail to restaurants, a hardware store to dog grooming, you really don’t have to leave our community anymore to get what you need,” Vance said. “We have stores of great quality, with owners who are nice and who go out of their way to help you.”

Mt Laurel is a 600-acre neighborhood development off Dunnavant Valley Road that officials say has family at its center. Once completed, the town will have 600 homes along with several mixed-use buildings in its town center. Mt Laurel, which is currently in the development of its third phase, has about 220-230 families living there now, Vance said.

Businesses say they were hooked by the appeal of Mt Laurel. Here’s a look at four of the new business ventures in its town center (A29-A31).

Lucky Dog Grooming

Owners Magan Hall and Alyssa Hall opened the shop that offers doggy haircuts and baths in August 2014. Alyssa is the master dog groomer, honing her skills over three years at PetSmart in Alabaster. Magan handles front-office administrative and financial duties.

Magan found out about Mt Laurel from her former bosses, who own Alabama Furniture Market in Alabaster. 

“We walked around the town center, saw there was no one specializing in dog grooming services and decided to open our boutique,” Alyssa Hall said. “It’s worked so well that we are booked six to eight weeks out for haircuts. We can still squeeze baths in.”

Alyssa said they are looking for an experienced groomer to add to the staff to keep up with demand. They have grown through word of mouth in Mt Laurel plus a Lucky Dog Grooming Facebook page. They sponsored a cutest canine photo contest during the April Spring Festival in Mt Laurel, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the Shelby County Humane Society. 

Besides Mt Laurel, Magan Hall says they have gotten customers from as far away as Columbiana and Helena. 

 “We try hard to give back to the community,” Alyssa Hall said.

E&E Hardware

For years, Casey Crane wanted to open a small-town hardware store like the one he used to attend as a teenager.

Last August, Crane left a job working for his brother’s distribution warehouse to pursue his entrepreneurial dream at age 48. So far it has worked out well, he said.

 “My customers have been so supportive,” Crane said during a break in his shop. “They appreciate not having to drive all the way down 280 to get what they need.”

 E&E Hardware carries a variety of items, from plumbing and electrical supplies to small garden tools, light bulbs, air filters and bird feed.

 “We’ve got almost anything a husband needs when working on his ‘honey-do list,’” Crane said with a chuckle.

Crane said he was attracted to Mt Laurel for the venture after getting to know the community while working for EBSCO 20 years ago. 

“I loved the fact that it has a small town feel, which is perfect for a hardware store,” he said.

Crane said he is hoping to build a legacy that he can pass on down to the next generation.

 “A lot of people don’t know I’m here, but word is spreading to some of the surrounding neighborhoods,” he said. “I’m enjoying it so far.”

Simply Infused

Simply Infused, a shop and tasting room specializing in a variety of olive oil and balsamic vinegar products, is owned by Cheryl Harper and her 15-year-old daughter, Loreleigh. Cheryl Harper left a 25-year career in information technology at Hewlett-Packard to start the business venture with her daughter.

“I missed so much quality time with her that I wanted to step out on faith and do something together with my daughter,” she said.

The business name comes from the idea of “simply infusing authentic olive oil” products into the Mt Laurel community, Harper said. Simply Infused has a tasting room that allows customers to taste and experience more than 50 varieties of imported extra-virgin olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars shipped in from around the world, Harper said. They can be used to boost the flavorings of foods from steaks to salads, she said.

“Customers can try as many pairings as they can imagine, representing extraordinary examples of unique quality and pairings impossible to duplicate in traditional supermarket brands,” Harper said.

Simply Infused joins a national trend as olive oil shops are catching popularity across the country. Another shop, Oli.O, opened in Mountain Brook Village a year ago. The Mt Laurel sales office says Simply Infused is a great fit for the community and joins a growing retail center providing a variety of services for residents. 

The idea for Simply Infused sprouted from a vacation Harper and her daughter made to an olive oil shop in Biltmore Village in Asheville, North Carolina in November 2012. 

“We were shocked and amazed at the quality of the taste, and on the way home Loreleigh and I talked about opening our own shop one day,” Harper said. “Two years later, in November 2014, I left my job in corporate America and started the process that got us to where we are today.”

To research for their new venture, Harper took her daughter last December on a 17-day cross-country trip from Alabama to California, stopping by olive oil shops and vacation sites such as the Grand Canyon along the route.

“We visited olive oil shops from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Ventura, California,” she said. “We are using techniques we learned from the best.”

Harper said their products come from olives grown and pressed by artisans and small farms throughout the world. “They are 100 percent extra virgin,” she said. “They are not blends adulterated with lower quality oils or other additives.”

Simply Infused’s all-natural balsamic vinegars are harvested in Modena, Italy, and they too have health benefits such as helping control blood sugar and reducing high blood pressure, Harper said.  Besides dozens of olive oil and balsamic vinegars, the store sells candy bars, lotions and other products.

Mr. Harry’s Chickin De-Lux

Co-owner and chef Chris Harrigan says the new Mr. Harry’s chicken concept has seen families with young children who shied away from a fine-dining restaurant. The restaurant offers lunch and dinner entrees featuring his take on chicken fingers, chicken wings, chicken salad, rotisserie chicken, chicken and dumplings and others.

“You’re limited in offering just fine dining in an oasis like this,” Harrigan said during a recent lunch break at the restaurant. “To me, it made more sense to offer a family-friendly, full-service casual chicken restaurant. We offer a $9 lunch and $15 dinner entrees, so it’s affordable to everyone.”

The restaurant has been well received despite opening with no advertising, thanks to strong word-of-mouth and promotion on Facebook, Harrigan said. It is a perfect fit for Mt Laurel and thousands of families who live in area neighborhoods such as Greystone and Highland Lakes, he said.

 “We’ve seen grandparents with young children, families, large groups, business professionals,” Harrigan said. “I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s going very well.”

Harrigan’s business partners include a Birmingham restaurateur familiar with building a popular brand, Jim ’N Nick’s Bar-B-Q owner Nick Pihakis and his son, Nicholas Pihakis.

Mr. Harry’s Chickin De-Lux includes recipes Harrison developed over 25 years working in restaurants, mostly upscale, across the country. The restaurant seats 140 people inside and another 80 outside.

Harrigan said he and his partners are already making plans for a second Mr. Harry’s Chickin De-Lux. 

“It will be in Avondale,” he said, adding they hope to open it within six months.