Homewood's Center of Gravity Is Moving West: A Late-Summer Look at What's Actually Changed

Drive down Oxmoor Road on a Friday evening and the traffic tells you something the maps haven't caught up to yet. The lights back up past West Row. The Edge's turf lawn is full. A block of storefronts that read "coming soon" a year ago now has draft lists and reservation books.

For most of the last decade, a Homewood resident's mental map ran along 18th Street and through Edgewood, with a polite nod toward the west side of I-65. That map is out of date. The recent openings, the infrastructure the city has quietly finished, and even where the fall calendar puts its biggest crowds all point to a Homewood whose weight is shifting.

Here is what has actually changed since last fall, why it clusters where it does, and what to put on the calendar between now and December.

The West Oxmoor Pull

The clearest signal is the run of new business along the western stretch of Oxmoor Road, most of it tied to the mixed-use development that replaced the old Econo Lodge.

El Barrio and Paramount both opened in the bottom floor of West Row Lofts & Townhomes at 195 Oxmoor Road, El Barrio bringing a sleek modern Mexican dining room and private event space, Paramount delivering retro arcade energy, cold draft beer and a patio, the two connected by a shared hallway full of arcade games. The pairing matters because it works with, not against, the city's zoning move: the West Homewood Entertainment District was extended in anticipation of Paramount and El Barrio, keeping the expansion within the commercial zones of West Homewood and away from residential streets, which is what allows a customer to carry a drink between venues within district hours.

Two blocks west, the vacancy at 162 Oxmoor filled in this summer. Big John's Buffet celebrated its grand opening June 24, 2026 at 162 Oxmoor Road, taking over the space formerly home to Cantina Tortilla Grille that had been vacant since 2024, with owner John Yoon bringing a buffet-style restaurant focused on Southern comfort food.

A short walk down the same road, at 169 Oxmoor, the small commercial pocket next to Seeds Coffee has quietly become its own destination. The Collective salon marked one year at its second location at 169 Oxmoor Road in West Homewood, offering the same services as its Pepper Place original, and The Craft Room, a new craft store and workspace offering lightly used craft supplies alongside shared project space, beverages and snacks, opened near The Collective and Seeds Coffee at 169 Oxmoore Road, Suite 109.

The neighborhood built around Buka set the template five years earlier. Buka, the neighborhood wine shop, market and takeaway cafe at 186 Oxmoor Road, Suite 100, is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and now hosts pop-ups, wine tastings and dinners. What was a single wine shop is now a walkable cluster.

And the pull is not only commercial. Colina WeHo, a $51 million apartment development at 80 West Oxmoor Road near West Homewood, has been completed by developer Dobbins Group, with 310 units across 16 buildings in garden-style and carriage apartment configurations. Those residents are, right now, choosing where to get coffee and dinner within walking distance.

Downtown and Edgewood Are Not Standing Still

None of this means 18th Street has gone quiet. The changes there are different in kind: refurbishments, second locations, and a slower turnover of tenants.

The most interesting is a preservation story. Gallery Annette opened at 109 Broadway Street in Homewood, taking over the former Art Alley space once owned by Jim Smith, with new owners Duncan and Anna Chancellor relaunching it under a new name while preserving part of its artistic foundation, keeping several longtime artists and adding new creators showcasing regional and contemporary work. A block over, downtown picked up a small but well-curated addition when Stone Hollow Farmstead opened a second Birmingham-area retail location in downtown Homewood, sharing space with Tracey Barrett Interiors at 2817 18th Street South, featuring heirloom goods, seasonal provisions and fresh blooms.

The dining and lifestyle side of downtown is expanding rather than reinventing. A new marquee for Foo Hai went up in the Aloft Birmingham SoHo Square hotel at 1903 29th Ave S, and Foo Hai Handmade Noodles & Dumplings from Atlanta-based Urban Hai is set to open in Homewood this spring, two years after it was first announced. Glow by Gabby, a locally owned tanning salon, expanded from Morris Avenue in downtown Birmingham to a new studio at 2807 18th Street South in downtown Homewood, located next to Soho Retro.

And then there is the recovery economy, which now has a Homewood outpost: R3 Contrast has opened a sauna and cold plunge studio in Homewood, offering contrast therapy services at 3250 Independence Drive, Suite 10.

If you rank these by cultural weight versus square footage, the downtown moves are the kind that hold value over time. The west side is where the volume is.

What the Cluster at The Edge Tells You

The other node that keeps drawing residents is the food-hall model on Green Springs Highway.

Fun-Land Arcade and Snack Bar is now open at The Edge at 815 Greensprings Highway, the latest business to join the family-friendly outdoor entertainment and restaurant development, with over 100 arcade games, air hockey, pinball and more, in the former Cookie Plug space; Fun-Land has been a Panama City Beach fixture since 1953.

The Edge's original tenants have now hit their one-year mark, which is when a food hall either finds its identity or starts churning. Homewood's has found it. Several businesses at The Edge Homewood on Green Springs Highway are marking one year in operation, including The QueBicle serving Chef Nick Carpenter's take on barbecue and sides, PopBar and Baba Java in a shared space offering gelato popsicles and sustainably sourced coffee, B'ham Burger with burgers and hot dogs, and Shin Ramen Noodle and Asian Cuisine owned by Young Shin, who also owns The Standard and Pho Pho.

Two of the most established downtown restaurants are also worth a fresh look this fall. Ironwood Kitchen & Cocktails, located in The Valley Hotel in downtown Homewood, unveiled a new menu with new executive chef Kirsyn Bielawa, with cast iron appetizers including Lamb Lollipops and Pork Belly, house-made pasta, and entrees such as Bison Strip Steak, Beer Brined Chicken and Pork Ribeye.

Put These on the Fridge

The fall calendar has not moved west with the restaurants. The city's largest gatherings still anchor in downtown, and that is worth noting: it is one of the reasons the two sides of Homewood still feel like one town.

• Fall Festival, Saturday, August 29. 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Patriot Park, kicking off the new school year with rides, bounce houses, food and live entertainment, no admission charge, with a $10 wristband providing unlimited access to attractions and proceeds benefiting the Homewood High School Band.
• Homewood Witches Ride. Beginning after the festival at 5:30 p.m., benefiting the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, bringing together riders and members of the community for a great cause.
• Holiday Open House. The Homewood Chamber of Commerce's annual kickoff to the holiday shopping season, with downtown shopping, refreshments, hors d'oeuvres, a trolley and shopping discounts.
• Christmas Parade. Beginning at 6:30 p.m. from Homewood Public Library and traveling east on Oxmoor Road, turning left onto 18th Street South and passing under the Christmas Star, culminating with the lighting of the Homewood Star as the parade enters downtown and the tree at city hall plaza.

Learn more about the full slate at homewoodparks.com.

Two Quieter Changes That Will Alter Your Saturday

Two pieces of infrastructure finished in the last several months are worth knowing because they change the friction of a normal Homewood errand day.

Construction on the Dawson Memorial Baptist Church parking deck is now complete at 1114 Oxmoor Road, adding more than 300 public parking spaces as part of a lease agreement with the city to help ease parking in the Edgewood business district, with the second, third and fourth deck levels available to the public Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to midnight, reserved for church use on Sundays. If your reason for skipping brunch on 18th used to be the parking loop, that reason is now obsolete.

The Homewood Public Library has begun Phase III renovations, funded by the City of Homewood, with upgrades including a remodeled Large Auditorium with new flooring and a redesigned stage, a new kitchen with commercial-grade appliances, renovated Children's Department restrooms, refreshed gallery wall coverings, and ADA-compliant café restrooms, along with new paint and furniture in the café. The library remains open through the work, which is worth knowing before you plan a homework session or a meeting there.

What the Map Now Looks Like

For a longtime resident, the useful reframe is this: Homewood no longer has a "main" district and a "back" side. It has three working nodes. Downtown 18th Street and Edgewood remain the civic and small-retail heart, holding the parade, the parks board events, and most of the boutiques. West Oxmoor around West Row has become the walkable dining and entertainment corridor, reinforced by an extended entertainment district and hundreds of new residential units within a five-minute walk. The Edge on Green Springs is the family-friendly middle ground, a food-hall gravity well pulling from both sides of the interstate.

That is a fuller Homewood than the one most residents were describing this time last year. It is also the version that will show up on any thoughtful home tour of the neighborhood.

If you are thinking about how any of these shifts affect a home you own here, or a property you have your eye on, Brandon Smith Homes would be glad to talk. Let's Connect.