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After recent closures, Phoebus prepares to welcome '8 or 9' new businesses in 2025

Phoebus January 2025
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HAMPTON, Va. — After the loss of two prominent small businesses to end the year, Hampton's historic Phoebus neighborhood says several new shops are expected to move into the community in 2025.

Phoebus Dive Bar closed on Christmas Eve, with the owner citing the economy to News 3. Days later, Phoebus Auction Gallery held its last auction, ending more than 30 years in the neighborhood.

Joe Griffith, the manager of the community's Main Street program Historic Downtown Phoebus, says a longtime staff member at the business had passed away.

Watch previous coverage: Bittersweet end to year as Phoebus bar closes after NYE

Bittersweet end to year as Phoebus bar closes after NYE

“The company wasn’t able to keep going and so they’re shutting down," Griffith told News 3. “It’s always sad to see, but this is Phoebus. We’re a resilient community. We’ve been around for a long time.”

Phoebus — a former independent town that became a part of Hampton in the early 1950s — dates back hundreds of years to the arrival of the first English settlers. It's around a mile from Downtown Hampton and known as the gateway to Fort Monroe.

“My great-grandfather opened his business in Phoebus in 1908 and was there through the 90s with my grandfather and father," said Dana Epstein, who owns The Baker's Wife Bistro and Bar with her husband, Phillip. "I always thought that Phoebus was a special place.”

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The Epsteins' restaurant opened at the corner of Mellen and Mallory Streets in 2021. They had already owned The Grey Goose, a downtown Hampton staple, and now they're preparing to move that business to Phoebus too.

"We feel like [the neighborhood is] definitely revitalized and it’s only getting better," Dana told News 3.

Griffith says The Grey Goose is one of several new small businesses set to move in after what he believes was a strong year.

“We have about eight or nine that are on the slate this year so far," he tells News 3. “We had 1.1 million visitors to Phoebus last year and that’s not just people passing through or anything like that. That’s people who came and stayed a significant amount of time.”

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Most of Phoebus' businesses, including many of its most prominent, are located on Mellen Street which heads toward Fort Monroe. In 2025, Griffith says there will be a focus on the neighborhood's other main street, Mallory. That's where The Grey Goose will be located. It's also where the ladies behind restaurant Mango Mangeaux and other Simply Panache brand businesses opened their newest venture, Mango Medical.

Around the same time, Phoebus also learned that Gov. Glenn Youngkin's office had designated the community as an "Advancing Virginia Main Street," which Griffith says opens his office up to additional funding and resources, much of which will go to protecting the area's historic buildings.

"We were lucky in the 50s, 60s and 70s during urban renewal, they didn't knock our buildings down. They kind of left us alone," he told News 3. "We’re a preservation-based economy so we have to make sure that that unique feel, all that unique architecture is here for generations to come."

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As for which businesses the community would like to see come in in the future...

“We can accommodate small businesses like florists, butchers, vintage clothing," said Griffith. “It’s not just Mellen Street. It’s not just Mallory Street. We gotta make sure that everybody has connectivity to the community and has the same resources.”