Customers are taking selfies inside the newly opened Jax Liquors.
"Yesterday, I had a lot of travelers, they were taking a snapchat," Jasmin Patel, one of the four partners who own the newly upgraded downtown spirit store, said Thursday.
Snapchats and selfies have been normal responses from customers, faithful repeats and UTC students who are seeing the new Jax Liquors and its rows of wines and liquors, and its floor-to-ceiling windows and its clean new exterior for the first time this week, said Patel.
Jax Liquors just wrapped up roughly 10 months of construction this week on the brand-new, 6,500-square-foot building at the corner of Market and East Third streets downtown. Wednesday was the first day operating out of the new space.
Jax has called downtown home for decades, and in 2012 came under the ownership of Patel and his partners in Four Friends LLC. Patel's partners are his brother, Punit Patel, as well as their friends Jiten Patel and Mishit Patel.
Until now, Jax has operated out of a 4,000-square-foot, one-story building that dates back 50 years or more, according to Jasmin Patel. He said the old building is scheduled to be demolished next week in order to make room for 21 to 25 new parking spaces for the new building.
He also gives credit to Vision Hospitality founder, president and CEO Mitch Patel for help nudging Jax ownership in the right direction in the expansion.
Mitch Patel says as a member of the River City Co. and Chattanooga Design Studio board, he encouraged the Jax owners to build something reflective of downtown Chattanooga.
"Urban design is very important to us, and to me, and you know that the highest and best use for that property with that little, one-story building wasn't the best," said Mitch Patel. "And I thought there was an opportunity to do something better, and bolder, and take the building to the street and create a responsible urban design."
He believes the new building has greatly improved the property, and enhanced the area.
"I just assisted them, encouraged them in the process," Patel said.
He stressed that neither he, nor Vision Hospitality, have a stake in Jax Liquors.
With the physical expansion of the store, meanwhile, Jasmin Patel said the store's owners are expanding Jax's product base to include more high-end wines, high-gravity beers, cigars and juices and water, in line with recently passed state laws that allow liquor stores to carry more beer and non-drink items.
Patel hopes the new, slick look and expanded inventory draw new customers, especially since Jax reels in a lot of hyper local business.
"Most of all the customers, they come from walking distance," he said.
The downtown hotels, the downtown apartments and townhomes and UTC - combined, they create a pipeline of business for Jax. Patel said the store's clientele is roughly 60 percent local, repeat customers and 40 percent folks visiting the city and lodging downtown.
It's also why Patel doesn't fear the effects of the recent introduction of Imbibe Chattanooga in the Southside, or the presence of Riverside Wine and Spirits across the river to the north.
"We're in the middle of downtown Chattanooga," he said. "We're not competing with any of them."
Patel hopes to get all the store's inventory shelved in the next week, and hopes by early July the demo of the old building, the construction of a retaining wall at the end of the property and the installation of a new parking lot will be complete.
He also plans to hire an additional three or four employees soon, taking the store's total count to 10 workers, a handful of them wine and spirits specialists who can help customers.
He declined to say what the total investment will wind up being in the improvement project, but said he is proud of the way it's turned out so far - especially when out-of-towners come in and take photos to send their friends back home.
"This is like a warm welcome to Chattanooga," Patel said.
Contact staff writer Alex Green at agreen@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6480.