One of the specialty shops that has been part of the revitalization of Hopkinsville’s Sixth Street is going out of business.
The Miller’s Son will close at the end of March. A men’s clothing store, it was in business for about two years.
Co-owner John Miller-Reynolds said he and his husband, Derek, have decided to return full-time to Nashville.
“It’s really a lifestyle decision,” he told Hoptown Chronicle. “We can’t run two homes.”
During their relatively brief time in Hopkinsville, the couple purchased and restored two historic properties.
One of those — the former residence of the late Wallace and Alice Starling on South Main Street — was their second home.
The other was the Sixth Street commercial property, which they purchased from Mac and Catherine Arthur, the former proprietors of Young Hardware and longtime advocates for the economic potential of Sixth Street. The Arthurs still own several properties on Sixth Street and run an antique store in one of their buildings.
The two-story Miller’s Son building dates the late 1800s and was originally a store and residence for one of Hopkinsville’s early Jewish merchants. It later became an additional bay of the 1898 Young Hardware building. Today, the original hardware building, owned by Hal McCoy, is home to The Mixer, a restaurant venture of Graham and Heather Dawson.
John Miller-Reynolds said he sees downtown revitalization as crucial for the overall success of towns like Hopkinsville.
The biggest challenge at The Miller’s Son was attracting customers downtown, he said.
“It has been engrained in the town for decades to avoid downtown,” he said. “I think that has been my biggest frustration.”
The owners plan to sell or lease the Sixth Street property.
The person who is successful in that location will probably have “deep roots in the community,” John said.
Friday, March 13, and Saturday, March 14, will be the last two days they sell Miller’s Son merchandise at the store. They will sell antiques and collectibles there the last two weekends of the month. Details are available on the store’s Facebook page.
When they are back in Nashville full-time, John said he will return to freelance work in film and television. Derek owns two businesses there, Edward Barber. Shop. in Bellevue, and Leigh, Edwards and Company on White Bridge Pike.
(Jennifer P. Brown is the editor and founder of Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
