How many of the doors you pass between Founders Park and King Commons this December will be new? Connect Downtown counts 19 new businesses and four expansions downtown across 2025 and 2026. Its list of six more "coming soon" came out in August, and most of those set their target dates for this fall.
The season itself is fixed. Candy Land Christmas puts more than 180 decorated trees in Founders Park, King Commons and along Main Street from Nov. 28, 2026, through Jan. 4, 2027. Local businesses, nonprofits, schools, churches and community groups decorate the trees. The new businesses announced their opening targets one at a time, many of them for September through Thanksgiving. For the ones that make it, this holiday stretch will be the first December crowd they see.
Why one more shop helps the shop next door
Downtown business owners describe more stores as a draw for each other. In WJHL's August report on downtown growth, Lora Eshbach put it in numbers. She chairs Connect Downtown and owns the Generalist.
"Since 2017, our vacancy rate went from 27% down to 9%, which is pretty incredible, especially for a downtown district."
She told WJHL her own sales grew 30% year over year. She credits that to people spending more time walking downtown, stopping at a boutique or a bookstore and then coming in to see her. In the same report, Cam McAlister of Sentimental Journey Antiques said sales and foot traffic at his shop have grown 34% since it opened in 2025. He announced an expansion across the street to West Main Street, with the new location set to open Sept. 5.
That kind of growth depends on people walking from one shop to the next, and the holiday calendar is built around walking. Candy Land Christmas has no ticket, and admission is free. Its trees sit in the parks and along the streets where the new businesses chose their addresses.
Three dates that fill the sidewalks
- Saturday, Nov. 28, 6:30 to 8 p.m. The Grand Christmas Tree Lighting at King Commons, which also opens Candy Land Christmas.
- Nov. 28 through Jan. 4. The trees stay up in Founders Park, King Commons and on Main Street all season. Downtown Johnson City's page says a 2026/2027 tree map is coming soon.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Johnson City Christmas Parade comes through downtown.
Both Saturdays bring big crowds downtown. The weekday evenings between them are quieter, and the tree displays are still up for walking. Those evenings are also when a new restaurant or lounge can take a party without a wait.
The new doors on East Main
The east end of Main Street has two of this fall's most talked-about additions, close to each other.
Copper and Glass, 309 E. Main St. Heath Ricker is turning the former J.C. Penney building into a duckpin bowling lounge. WJHL reported in September that the plan calls for 10 lanes, each holding up to eight people, with its own waiter. Upstairs is a mezzanine with a full-service bar and accessible balconies. The menu is handhelds: pizza, tacos and burgers. The target was to open by the end of October. Ricker told WJHL he hopes the lounge can be "a catalyst to give other business owners and entrepreneurs the confidence to try something new and try something different."
Win Sushi & More, 325 E. Main St. Two doors east, co-owner and chef Maria Simon planned a soft opening on Tuesday, Nov. 3, with a limited menu from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and a grand opening on Monday, Nov. 9. WJHL reported that the full menu covers cooked and raw sushi, poke bowls, ramen, appetizers and donburi. Simon said she and her husband have worked in franchise operations out of state, and this is the first restaurant they've opened themselves. The name "Win" has special meaning in both of their families.
A tree-lighting crowd leaving King Commons on Nov. 28 will be close to both addresses.
Off Main Street, where the targets were set for fall
The other businesses on Connect Downtown's "coming soon" list are spread across downtown's side streets, a block or two from the tree displays. Here is each one's last publicly announced target.
| Business | Address | What it is | Last announced target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laced Up Kicks and Cuts | 132 Spring St. | Buy, sell and trade shoes and streetwear, plus barber services | October |
| Mama's Grocery | 413 W. Walnut St. | Locally sourced grocery and bulk refillery | Thanksgiving 2026, with a limited-hours soft opening first |
| Za Lab Pizza and Brews | 108 Tipton St. | Pizza by the slice and whole pies, late-night hours | Fall |
| Little Animals Beer Project | 220 W. Market St. | Brewery at the former Windsor site | Late summer 2026, depending on renovations |
| 6ix Brewhouse | Downtown Johnson City | Second taproom for the Kingsport brewery | Later in 2026 |
Mama's Grocery's target, the Thanksgiving weekend, is also when the tree lighting brings the season's first big crowd downtown. WJHL's July story on the West Walnut Street project named Ariel Seehorn-White and her husband, Zach, as the owners. FoundersForge later reported the Thanksgiving target and the soft opening.
Little Animals Beer Project is something of a return. Owner Chris Cates told WJHL in January that the brewery would bring back familiar beers and add new ones at the former Windsor site on West Market Street.
6ix Brewhouse is expanding because of demand. In the same WJHL roundup, co-owner Cory Anderson said the Kingsport taproom was "going through beer way too fast." She also said customers kept coming in saying, "We wish you were in Johnson City."
Most of these dates were set months ago, so check a business's own page or social accounts before you plan an evening around it.
Building a Candy Land evening around what's already downtown
The 2025 and 2026 openings that Connect Downtown counts are already part of the district. A holiday walk can work around them whether or not this fall's newcomers are ready. The City of Johnson City's announcement lists places like The French Honeybee Patisserie, Seven Wonders Play Café, Fearless Coffee and Kitchen, The Well Coffee Shop, Johnson's Literary Depot, Blue Ridge Clay, Vino Noir, Twisted Fork and Hound Dogs. It also notes expansions at The Moon Coffee and Tea and The Bush House.
Here's one way to plan a weeknight in December:
- Start at Founders Park with the tree displays, while there's still some light.
- Walk Main Street toward King Commons. More trees line the route, and you'll pass the boutiques and bookshop stops Eshbach described as what keeps people downtown.
- Pick dinner by the end of the walk you finish on. East Main has the sushi and the duckpin lanes. Laced Up is planned for Spring Street and Za Lab for Tipton Street.
- Pick up gifts, or Thanksgiving leftovers supplies, on West Walnut or West Main. That's where Mama's Grocery and the new Sentimental Journey Antiques location are.
If you have family in town for the parade on Dec. 5, the parade ends at 12:30 p.m. That leaves the whole afternoon for lunch, shopping and a walk past the trees.
Local businesses and community organizations decorate the trees on the Candy Land route. This year, some of the businesses on the same streets are new enough that December may be the first time a lot of neighbors walk through their doors.
Holidays downtown are often when families talk about what comes next: a parent ready for a smaller place closer to town, or an estate that needs settling after the new year. If that conversation comes up at your table this season, Kristi Bailey will walk you through the next steps, patiently and without pressure. Let's Talk About Your Move.
