Martin Street is getting a serious glow-up. AJ Capital Partners has inked leases with three homegrown brands for ground-floor retail at its Wedgewood Village project, bringing in Bell Bird Books, Bower, and Culture Club. The trio is slated to open this spring inside a new four-story building that pairs street-level shops with apartments above, adding more fuel to the steady run of small-business and luxury arrivals reshaping the Wedgewood‑Houston neighborhood as the 18‑acre development fills in.
In a press release via Visit Music City, AJ Capital laid out the details: Bell Bird Books will take a 1,020-square-foot space at 1208 Martin St., Bower will move into 1,693 square feet at 1214 Martin St., and Culture Club will open in a 974-square-foot storefront at 1212 Martin St. The release also notes that Perenn Grocery, a market concept from Perenn, is scheduled to join the mix in summer 2026, rounding out the retail block.
Who's moving in
Bell Bird Books, founded by Mary Ann Weprin, is set to operate as a neighborhood indie bookstore with a curated selection of titles and specialty stationery, the kind of spot built for lingering rather than grabbing and going. Bower, co-founded by Andrea Fishkin and Amanda Soeder Gleaton, bills itself as a design-forward nail salon that leans into wellness, with non-toxic polishes and eco-considerate tools meant to clean up the traditional mani-pedi routine.
Culture Club, launched by brothers Bear and PJ Kaminer, is positioning itself as Nashville’s first frozen Greek yogurt café, complete with a chef-led toppings bar overseen by James Beard semifinalist Noelle Marchetti, as reported by Nashville Post. Book browsing, wellness-centric nail care, and cheffy froyo all within a short walk of one another is exactly the kind of mixed-use mashup Wedgewood‑Houston has been trending toward.
The larger picture
The new storefronts are tucked into a roughly 170,000-square-foot, four-story building on Martin Street, across from the historic May Hosiery Mills and within steps of Soho House, Pastis, and Hermès, all part of AJ Capital’s broader 18-acre Wedgewood Village redevelopment. The same building is slated to host restaurants from the Boka Restaurant Group, while the Memoir May Hosiery residential project will occupy the upper floors with about 109 units, bringing built-in foot traffic for the retail below. Those project specifics are outlined by AJ Capital Partners.
What to expect
“Our goal is to thoughtfully curate a mix of local and national businesses that both reflect our community and fill key neighborhood needs,” AJ Capital Senior Vice President of Retail Kyle Allen said in the announcement, framing the new leases as part of a longer game to make Wedgewood Village a true destination. In practical terms, for anyone strolling Martin Street this spring, that translates to a new neighborhood bookstore, a salon centered on wellness-focused services, and a chef-driven frozen yogurt counter joining an expanding cluster of restaurants and shops.
Construction is now shifting toward opening up the ground-floor spaces, with Bell Bird Books, Bower, and Culture Club on deck for spring debuts and Perenn Grocery expected to follow in summer 2026, per the release.
