We’ll always keep the downtown stories coming, but your 2025 reader survey responses told us you want to hear more about small businesses in your own neighborhoods. In today’s “Urban Outposts,” we head east to spotlight some hidden treasures along Magnolia Avenue.
I have a heart for East Knoxville as I started my daytime career there over 30 years ago. Frank Shanklin, Jr., one of the business owners I met on this journey, called its main thoroughfare, Magnolia Avenue, something I’d never heard: “entrepreneur alley,” pointing out that most businesses investing there are small and locally owned by East Knoxvillians.
I wanted to see some of the Magnolia area businesses that local residents visit, so I reached out to a friend and former student who now teaches in the community to get recommendations. She gave me a great list to start with, and I found even more as I went. This Urban Outposts article won’t be the last in the area.
Kai’s Kitchen (2310 Magnolia Ave.)
Tucked away inside BJ’s Food Mart at 2310 Magnolia Ave., Kai’s (pronounced Kays) Kitchen is serving up, as owner Melanie Kai McAllister called it, “down home soul” food. Her restaurant is a quick service, to-go model (my order took less than 10 minutes and was piping hot). The spacious kitchen and prep area took me by surprise after I first walked in. So did the size of the line of customers wrapping through the store…