Long's Drug Store opened at 4604 Kingston Pike in 1956. For almost seventy years it was a pharmacy, a lunch counter and a place to run into neighbors. Nick and Alexander Braden grew up eating at that counter. This fall the brothers are opening something of their own in the space.
That's a good way into Bearden's summer. Between mid-July and mid-September, several longtime businesses on Kingston Pike closed. As of mid-October, most of those spaces still have no announced tenant. The new arrivals that have been named are mostly local: two brothers who ate at the Long's counter, and a Knoxville-owned coffee shop that took a storefront on Old Kingston Pike next to Bearden Beer Market.
Four Goodbyes in About Eight Weeks
On August 4, WVLT reported that Nixon's Deli was the third Kingston Pike restaurant to announce a closing in as many weeks. Intrepid Nitro's Bearden coffee bar closed later that month. Here's the summer in one table, current as of October 13, 2026.
| Business |
Address |
Last day |
What's known now |
| Denton's Burgers & Fun Foods |
6914 Kingston Pike |
The weekend before July 20 |
The family plans to keep vending at festivals |
| Plum Tree Chinese Restaurant |
7052 Kingston Pike |
July 31 |
No replacement announced |
| Intrepid Nitro Coffee and Tea Bar |
5201 Kingston Pike |
August 16 |
Hardin Valley shop still open |
| Nixon's Deli |
5716 Kingston Pike |
September 10 |
Looking for a new Bearden-area location |
Of the four, Nixon's gave the most public detail about its departure.
Why Nixon's Left a Building It Held for 35 Years
Nixon's Deli spent 35 years at 5716 Kingston Pike. The owner told WVLT that the building had changed hands and that the deli couldn't reach a new long-term lease, with a move-out date of September 15. WVLT reported that it did not get a comment from the property owner.
Nixon's said goodbye in a social media post, which WVLT quoted:
"This location has been part of our family and part of Bearden for a very long time. The building itself has long been associated with Nixon's, and we have been fortunate to build lasting relationships with so many of you over the decades."
The deli itself isn't closing. Its other two Knoxville locations stayed open, and the Nixon's locations page still says the business is looking for a new Bearden-area home. It says it will announce an address and opening timeline when it has one. For anyone who has ordered the same sandwich at that counter for years, that page is the one to watch.
Next door, at 5722 Kingston Pike, the former Sonic Drive-In site now has a Jimmy John's. The chain's location page lists daily hours and online ordering. WVLT reported that the Jimmy John's plans were not new and that the Nixon's owner said the chain played no part in his closing.
The Corner That Did Get a Next Chapter
The Long's building is the clearest example of how a Bearden corner gets reused. The store and its restaurant closed more than two years before Knox News reported on the space's future in September 2026. For most of that time, people driving past kept asking what was going in.
On September 16, Knox News reported the answer: RestWell. It's a new concept from Bradens Furniture built around sleep, rest and the rooms people create for both. In a September 21 post, Bradens said RestWell will open at 4604 Kingston Pike "this fall." The post didn't give an exact date. It also pointed out that Bradens, the furniture company behind RestWell, started in 1956, the same year Long's opened.
RestWell won't have a lunch counter. Still, the lights will come back on at a familiar Bearden corner, and the people turning them on are the ones who used to sit at that counter.
A Block Off the Pike, the New Openings Are Local Too
While the main road was losing tenants, two of Bearden's most-watched new openings landed on side streets.
Honeybee Coffee, 4520 Old Kingston Pike. Honeybee spent months teasing this location without saying much, then opened its third shop next door to Bearden Beer Market. It announced the opening July 11, according to Knox News. Owner Norris Hill opened his first shop in 2017. Honeybee's other two locations are on Sevier Avenue in South Knoxville and on Kingston Pike in Farragut. The Bearden shop is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends. It's closed Mondays, so plan around that.
Intrepid's Kingston Pike coffee bar closed August 16, about five weeks after Honeybee opened on Old Kingston Pike, so Bearden ended the summer with one coffee shop closed and another open nearby.
Il Mercato, 5440 Homberg Drive. Co-owners Annette Morejon and Eddy Perez are building an Italian restaurant and market with indoor and outdoor seating, pasta and pizza stations, cannoli, gelato and a deli counter. In August, Knox News reported an expected opening of late 2026 or early 2027. As of mid-October, the Il Mercato website says "Opening Fall 2026" without a specific date.
The places that left were mostly along Kingston Pike, from the 5200 block west to the 7000 block. The local openings came in on Old Kingston Pike, on Homberg and inside the old Long's building. The newcomers chose the smaller streets and the buildings with history.
What's Still Dark, and What to Watch
As of October 13, three of the four summer closings have no publicly announced replacement:
- 6914 Kingston Pike, the former Denton's. No new tenant reported. The Denton's family plans to keep cooking at festivals.
- 7052 Kingston Pike, the former Plum Tree. No new tenant reported.
- 5201 Kingston Pike, the former Intrepid Nitro. No new tenant reported.
The old Nixon's building at 5716 Kingston Pike hasn't announced a new use either. The new owner hasn't been named in any coverage so far. After Il Mercato and RestWell open, the next Bearden news will most likely be a new address for Nixon's, which has said it wants to stay in the area.
Two Dates Close to Home This Fall
You don't have to wait for the new storefronts to find something to do in the neighborhood. The City of Knoxville calendar lists the Sequoyah Hills 5K for Parkinson's at Sequoyah Hills Park, 1400 Cherokee Blvd., on Saturday, October 31, 2026, from 8 a.m. to noon.
Later in the season, Lakeshore Park's Light Up Lakeshore page lists a holiday market at the HGTV Overlook on December 5, from 3 to 7 p.m., with local makers, businesses, food trucks and nonprofits. That page doesn't show a year, so check the park's announcements before you go.
If you're thinking about your own next move in Bearden, whether that's a home near Homberg's new restaurant row or a place close to the corners you've known for decades, Liza Acheson follows these changes block by block and can walk you through what they mean for a specific street. Request your free concierge consultation.
