Springhurst Starbucks

How can a Starbucks go out of business? They're like pizza places; there's just no point of saturation for them. Granted, this wasn't my favorite Starbucks, and believe me, I know them all in this town - even the ones hidden inside hotels and Krogers and Targets. This one was rather computer-unfriendly, having only ONE electrical plug that all us rovin' ramblin' wi-fi rounders were constantly competing for. And on two separate occasions, I went in there to find that their wi-fi wasn't working, and when I told the counter help to reset their router, on both instances it was some giggling youth who said she had no idea what that was or where it was.

Since you asked (you did ask, right?), my favorite Starbucks in Louisville is the one on Blankenbaker, who hosted my solo art exhibition All History Does Unfold back in 2008.

On the Border

On The Border is no more. How can a Mexican restaurant go out of business in this town? Along with pizza joints, they're like the basic building block of American civilization nowadays, with seemingly no upper limit on how many of them any given city can sustain. And yet, like Los Chubascos, it's vamoosed.

When it comes to authenticity, though, On The Border was probably near the bottom of the scale, what with so many great Latin restaurants in this burg. On the other hand, its close promixity to Tinseltown Theater should have guaranteed that even a Taco Bell could thrive out here. (Oh, wait - there is one nearby, and it is.)

Fashion Shop

In 2006 the locally-owned Fashion Shop chain of stores filed Chapter 11, managed to hang on for awhile longer, then abruptly closed its stores with only a day's notice.

Pictured here: the former Fashion Shop & Home Springhurst‎ location, 4201 Towne Center Drive, still sitting empty since 2007.