Spotlight 54-241126 Gratitude and Action

In this week’s Spotlight …

Ministry feeds Grove neighbors.
Small businesses lead Little Bahamas.
Family-owned jeweler finds new home.

Thanksgiving Week’s Spotlight features Grove enterprises old and new. The editors thank you for your growing support and guidance.

Giving Thanks is a Weekly Event at this Community Kitchen

Antonio Jamison and friends feed the soul of a Coconut Grove community with their weekly Kitchen Ministry. “What keeps me going is the smile on people’s faces,” Jamison says.

By Noah Gulley

Antonio ‘Tony’ Jamison and friends gather each Sunday to welcome community members for a home-cooked meal at Jamison’s Coconut Grove home. From left to right: Gloria Williams, Mitch Johnson, Kanesha Johnson, Tony Jamison, Latonya Henley’s granddaughter, Latonya Henley, and Melissa Maycock. (Noah Gulley for the Spotlight)

Each Sunday, Antonio “Tony” Jamison begins his day at 6 a.m., prepping meals in the kitchen of his Coconut Grove home on Percival Avenue.

The aroma of seasoned salmon, jerk chicken, and freshly baked cornbread filled the air on a recent Sunday as Jamison’s backyard became a gathering space for the community.

By 2 p.m., a crowd of people had lined up neatly along the side of Jamison’s doorstep, under the shade of leafy trees, while Tony and his team served hot meals to familiar faces and new guests alike.

Can A Little Bahamas Visitor District Revitalize the West Grove?

Amidst ever-rising property values and a fast-changing resident population, an effort is underway to promote the area’s historic heritage and culture.

By Liz Tracy

A Bahamian Junkanoo band marching along Grand Avenue as part of last month’s Veteran’s Day Parade. (Marra Finkelstein for the Spotlight).

To some in the West Grove, evening rush hour is an endless caravan of cars making a mad dash past the empty storefronts and vacant lots of Grand Avenue. But in Anthony Witherspoon’s eyes those cars contain not just commuters but also potential customers.

Witherspoon is one of a handful of Grove residents and small business owners who believe the West Grove – officially rechristened Little Bahamas by city officials in 2022 – can cash in on its unique history and heritage to become a destination for tourists and residents who want to experience the authentic West Grove and its Bahamian culture.

The template, Witherspoon says, is not far away: both Little Havana, particularly along Southwest 8th Street, and Little Haiti, north of downtown Miami, with distinctive island music, food and flair, have become reliable tourist draws featuring.

Thirty Years and Still Ticking

Amid a changing retail landscape in Coconut Grove, the family-owned jewelry store Robin in the Grove finds new life just a few blocks from the old.

By Christopher Pearson

Henri Azoulay works alongside his son Philippe Azoulay in the new location of their longtime Coconut Grove jewelry store, Robin in the Grove, at 3162 Commodore Plaza. (Patrick Farrell for the Spotlight)

After 30 years at their prime storefront location on Main Highway, family-owned jewelry and watch specialists Robin in the Grove has moved to a new home on Commodore Plaza.

The move highlights a broader trend in the Grove’s evolving retail sector, with many small, independently owned operations closing their doors or relocating ~~fleeing~~ to cheaper locations.

“An area builds itself up organically with mom-and-pop businesses, grassroots-style, and inevitably the money catches wind of that area’s growing popularity,” says Robin in the Grove co-owner Philippe Azoulay. “Then the money moves in and everything that was organic starts to get pushed out.”