A newly formed West Garden Business Association is working to put more Pensacola businesses on the map, taking more shoppers and diners past the main strip of Palafox Street.
Operating similarly to Pensacola’s Downtown Improvement Board, Unique Boutique owner Angie Carter-Rosier registered the group as a nonprofit organization in July with help from the city’s economic development team and conducted its first official meeting in September, establishing founding members.
Carter-Rosier envisions the grassroots group as a way for business owners to collaborate to offer more activities for the area, like shopping passport programs, sip and shop events and social media spotlights to attract customers to the area’s hidden gems.
Community members can join, and business members within the parameters of Cervantes Street to the north, Main Street to the south, Spring Street to the east, and V Street to the west can sign on with voting rights for $150 per year. Nearly 200 businesses are included within the bounds, according to Carter-Rosier, ranging from longtime businesses such as J.W. Renfroe Pecan Co.’s Main Street Store, to new faces, like West Side Vintage at West Cervantes Street.
Take a look at some new West Garden Business Association members
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Owner Lexi Angeles talks about her business at West Side Vintage on West Cervantes Street in Pensacola on Sept. 4, 2026. (Gregg Pachkowski/Pensacola News Journal)
While the group was prompted by the roadside construction along Garden Street to help raise the businesses’ exposure exposure, she hopes it will bring business owners together long after the roadwork wraps.
The $21.5 million Garden Street Improvement Project began on April 1, 2025, running from Pace Boulevard to the Interstate 110 ramp, with the project expected to be completed by mid-2027.
Her shop, Unique Boutique, which features “coastal lifestyle” fashion, artisan goods, and local art, is still considered the “baby on the block” after about two years.
The construction made it even trickier, pushing new businesses like hers into survival mode. However, she found a way to adapt, shifting her focus away from upscale resale and toward new, unique finds, after taking in feedback from her regular customers. Still, she has found that many are still discovering her shop for the first time.
She’s not alone and has found that even longtime businesses still hear that people never knew they existed. She hopes the new business association will help attract new businesses to the area and fill empty storefronts.
Chrisoula Hewlin, owner of Chrisoula’s Cheesecake Shoppe on West Garden Street, has seen the area evolve a lot since she started her business back in 2007.
She grew up in the restaurant industry, as her father owned and operated The Angus on Scenic Highway, and she created a café of her own. While she started out offering many of her family’s Greek recipes, she began to lean more heavily on her homemade cheesecakes after the pandemic. She regularly offers nearly 20 varieties daily, often including Hewlin’s latest strokes of inspiration, from the best-selling Biscoff to the Dubai chocolate trend.
While her menu has scaled back, her business hasn’t slowed, with customers constantly pouring in for custom orders.
She’s excited about the movement happening in the Garden district, with businesses encouraging others to join the area.
“It seemed like there were a lot more businesses around here, then COVID, and they all kind of closed up, and it became really quiet on this side. But I can see these last few years, there’s a lot of progress on this west side. It seems like a lot of renovating old businesses to bring more folks. There’s more opportunity; there’s so much planned,” she said. “The central Palafox is kind of like your main hub, and then we’re kind of like everyone passes us to get to downtown. … That’s why we’re kind of excited about representing this side.”
Lexi Angelus is one of the entrepreneurs rejuvenating a building at 2729 W. Cervantes St., at the end of the business district’s boundary where it intersects with V Street.
Angelus opened her shop this past summer, turning her love of sourcing vintage into a full-time gig and offering a wall-to-wall selection of unique finds, from handcrafted silversmith rings to glittering gowns from decades past. Her shop offers predominantly ’90s and 2000s vintage clothing with touches of other decades, pulled from eight clothing vendors including her own vintage brand, as well as local art, candles and jewelry.
Angelus joined the business association as a way to unite with other small business owners like herself who felt as though they were on their own island.
“I don’t know about those businesses yet, so to be able to be in a group and network with those people. I think it’s going to be very helpful, too, just helping each other out,” she said. “I kind of get that from other small businesses around here, too. They’re all just happy that things are happening on the west side.”
On the main stretch of West Garden Street, Adrienne Brynteson is almost in her third year of operating Pensacola’s first cat café, which is filled with adoptable cats to pet while sipping on a house latte.
While she aims to eventually expand to a larger location, she has made the space a home filled with community craft nights, movies and more, while finding homes for more than 500 felines.
“We wanted it to seem like a home for the cats, especially because I feel like they can tell if they’re in a commercial building or in a home,” she said. “That was one of the big things when we were looking for a property to lease, was we wanted it to be a home. Now, we’re looking for a property to buy, so we’re hoping to find a home.”
The Garden Street location has helped grow her customer base and get her start.
“Our first couple of months in business were really busy because it was new and people didn’t know what it was. Our second year in business was a lot slower, but this last year has been much better,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of repeat customers and a lot of out-of-towners coming in, so I feel like it’s been growing pretty well.”
Carter-Rosier said she hopes the West Side will continue to grow to become a place where businesses not only survive, but thrive.
Shoppers can look out for a “Shop West Garden” digital passport campaign running from Black Friday through Christmas Eve with unique incentives across the district.
For real-time updates and information, follow the West Garden Business Association on social media or contact them via email at west.garden.business.district@gmail.com.
Brittany Misencik is a veteran dining reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. If you have a news tip, send it to BMisencik@pnj.com. Stay up to date on the latest restaurant news by subscribing to our free Pensacola Eats newsletter, delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign up for the newsletter at profile.pnj.com/newsletters/pensacola-eats/.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: There’s more to downtown than Palafox. West Garden shops aim to prove it
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