The main commercial stretch of the Bardstown Road/Baxter Avenue corridor is full of distinctive stores and restaurants, and now it’s being extended down Baxter into the Phoenix Hill and Irish Hill neighborhoods near Rogers and Payne streets, where an intriguing mix of shops caters to your not-so-everyday needs.
• With a new exhibit every couple of months, Mad About Art (568-4916) showcases local and regional artists. The gallery features everything from large abstract statues to small stone jewelry, including homemade scarves crafted on a large loom in the store.
• Muggers be warned: Safety and Security Store (587-8273) offers personal protection accouterments — from pepper spray to surveillance cameras.
• Around the corner, you can pedal into On Your Left Cycles (589-9676), likely the smallest bike shop in town. Nonetheless, it is full-service. The shop retails mountain and street bikes and is the only local seller of Independent Fabrications and Vicious Cycle bikes. The store also carries clothing and gear for cyclists and does repairs.
• Teaming up a ceramicist with a collage-and-assembly artist, the Gayle Cerlan and Jaque Parsley Gallery and Studio (396-5383) is open by appointment and gives classes in those two genres. The gallery also occasionally features other artists and is available for commissioned work.
• Filled with spell books, potions and other magic tools, Moon Struck (583-8956) metes out the metaphysical. The store also offers classes in meditation, tarot card reading and past-life regression and, oh yes, provides psychic readings.
• Planted firmly in the middle of the new vs. vintage debate, Magnetic Tape Recorder Co. (587-1848) buys and sells the latest in audio equipment as well as the very, very old. The small garage-like shop repairs malfunctioning equipment as well.
• Thinking about redecorating? Stop in and visit Renaissance Inc. Interior Design (585-5727),
which works mainly with residential clients and their redecorating needs.
• To wet your whistle or satisfy a growling stomach, head one long block east of Baxter on Payne to Baxter Station Bar and Grill (584-1635). This cozy neighborhood fixture is home to a wide selection of import and specialty beers and a menu that goes well beyond the usual bar fare.
