Beignets and Brews Coming to E-town; Wawa Opening Postponed

Key Takeaways

• Everbowl is off the Shops at Pear Orchard site plan; Suite 100 now lists Beignets and Brews at 2,000 square feet — a French donut and coffee concept whose closest location is Nashville
• Baskin-Robbins held its grand opening across from Kroger with a packed house, $1.31 scoops for the 31 flavors, and a prize wheel; Iron Brigade Gym, veteran-run, opened off Alex Drive the same weekend
• The area-wide downtown zone change is being withdrawn after resident pushback so the city can gather more public input, with new dates to be announced
• Wawa's Wednesday grand opening was pulled from Wawa's own listings — not even marked postponed — after a confirmed gas spill at the site; no new date has been announced

Summary

Nate Bryan's Business Buzz covered a tenant swap at Elizabethtown's most-watched development, two grand openings he attended in person, a city hall reversal on downtown zoning, and a story he broke on air: Wawa's grand opening, scheduled for the very next morning, had been quietly erased from the company's own event listings after a gas spill at the site.

For a county watching new businesses arrive at a steady clip, the segment was a reminder that the Buzz is as much shoe-leather as site plans — Nate stood in the Baskin-Robbins line, parked in the grass at Iron Brigade, and spent the hours before the show confirming the Wawa cancellation so nobody wasted a Wednesday morning trip.

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The Shops at Pear Orchard — the Publix development on Ring Road — has been the county's favorite guessing game for months, and Nate opened with a change on the official site plan. Everbowl, the acai bowl chain that had been slated for the middle of the first building, "is no longer on the list." In its place, the updated plan shows Suite 100 as Beignets and Brews, at 2,000 square feet.

"It is a chain. They have one in Nashville. It says French Donuts on the logo," Nate said, adding that he's reached out on social media to learn who's behind the local location. He also confessed a personal stake in the story: fresh off a New Orleans trip and a Cafe Du Monde stop, "I do love my Beignets. I do love getting messy. I do love powdered sugar. So I see this be a huge hit if it shows up."

Rachel was already sold: "Oh, I love me some Beignets. I'm super excited to have this here."

From there, Nate recapped a two-grand-opening weekend, both attended in person. Baskin-Robbins — in its new location across the street from Kroger — was packed, with DJ James Hummel on the music, the mascot working the crowd, scoops priced at $1.31 in honor of the 31 flavors, and a prize wheel. "If you keep on thinking it's like the one that me and Jon and Rachel grew up with... it's a lot different in a good way," Nate said, pointing to the yard games and extra space at the new spot.

Iron Brigade Gym's opening on Saturday drew a crowd big enough that Nate "had to park in the grass." The gym sits off Alex Drive — turn at the Valvoline on the movie theater side of Ring Road — and it's run by former military. "If you want something high intensity, they can make it happen," Nate said. "It's jam-packed."

The segment's civic item was the area-wide downtown zone change, which made TV news after resident pushback. The proposal would have opened dozens of houses in four neighborhoods to commercial uses, and as Nate summarized the concern: many residents said they found out only when signs started appearing. Per the official Planning Commission flyer, the city is withdrawing the proposal so staff can gather more public input, with new dates to be announced. Nate offered his own read as well: with multiple open storefronts downtown, "I don't think we need to open up a whole lot more and just stick them in the middle of residential areas. But that's just me." Rachel, who works in the market daily, called the original move "certainly a surprising move" and noted the passion comes from wanting "to protect that downtown feel."

Then came the story Nate had confirmed just hours before air. "Wawa, the grand opening was tomorrow. I was excited," he said. "The grand opening will not be happening tomorrow morning. I have confirmation on that." The event has been completely removed from Wawa's listings — "It's not even listed as postponed. They have completely removed it." Nate confirmed a gas spill at the site last week, with emergency services still on scene in the days after, but neither local leadership nor Wawa's national office would comment on the record about the cancellation.

His ask to the county was simple: "Do not go out there tomorrow morning. Please do not overload them because they are not having a grand opening yet." The prizes, the ceremony, the free-shirt line — all on hold until Wawa sets a new date.