Dennis Hiltner, left, sold The Gourmet Shop to Amy Beth Franks, right
The Gourmet Shop has changed hands: On Friday, after 41 years, owner Dennis Hiltner sold the iconic Five Points business to Amy Beth Franks.
Franks has served as executive director of the Five Points Association for the past six years; she told the board Saturday she’ll be stepping down.
The business — which encompasses a café, wine shop and store specializing in kitchenware, cheeses, chocolate and much more — was jammed with people at lunchtime on this Saturday, the outdoor tables filled despite the blustery weather.
The Gourmet Shop dates back to August 1977, when Hiltner bought an existing liquor store in the heart of Five Points.
“This was a party shop that sold more beer than any party store in town, by far,” he told Free Times, pointing to a corner of his now-sprawling enterprise along Saluda Avenue.
The business quickly began expanding and evolving into the European-inspired shop and eatery it is today.
“The Gourmet Shop has developed as spaces became available and as things were driven by customer demand,” he says. For example: “The café kind of grew out of people asking for sandwiches. At first we just had a few tables, and people went up and asked for their sandwich and we made it and handed it to them, and they went and sat down. We didn’t have any waiters or anything. And then it just changed and moved to where it is today.”
For Franks, buying the Gourmet Shop was a natural move from her Five Points post.
“I grappled with what I was going to do next for a long time, because I felt like I was part of this community, so I didn’t want to just leave and go get a job working for some company,” she says.
She approached Hiltner about buying his business, and eventually they sealed the deal.
Though Franks has a hospitality background, having worked for California Dreaming parent company Centra Archy, she’ll be learning directly from Hiltner and his wife about the Gourmet Shop during the transition.
“I think what Dennis and Linda have built here is very special,” she says. “I feel lucky that they have agreed to bring me in and teach me what it is that they’re doing here and help me take it to the next level.”
She says she has an advantage, though, in knowing Five Points.
“When you open a business in Five Points … you’re part of a community, part of a family. And I feel like I’ve got that part of it covered.”
Hiltner, too, says his business is inextricably lined to the neighborhood.
“Long ago I developed the idea that my store didn’t stop at the doors. My store is at the very least Five Points. As Five Points goes, so does my store. … Amy Beth’s experience with the Five Points Association has given me the feeling she has the attitude that Five Points is important.
“I have confidence in Amy Beth not to screw it up,” he says.
During Franks’ time with the Five Points Association, the district celebrated its centennial, commissioned a mural, beautified an adjacent train trestle, launched a rebranding campaign and installed a third fountain and a monument to Jack Van Loan, among other advances.
The district has also dealt with ongoing frictions, both during and before Franks' time here: tensions between the late-night college-oriented bars and the daytime merchants; between chain restaurants looking to locate in the district and locally owned businesses; between homeowners in the surrounding communities and those who party in Five Points’ bars. Most recently, Dick Harpootlian paved his trail to a state Senate seat on the backs of Five Points bars, launching a high-profile legal onslaught to challenge several businesses' liquor licenses.
Franks will step down as Five Points Association executive director. However, she says she’s told the board she “would like to be as involved in the transition as they would like me to be. I’m not going far.”
“Obviously the timing is not ideal,” she admits. “We have St. Pat’s in Five Points coming up in 34 days and 19 hours.” The district’s marquee event helps fund the association’s other activities through the year, and draws thousands to Columbia.
The association also runs other events — including, in conjunction with Free Times, the Columbia Food and Wine Festival. Details of her involvement with such events have yet to be worked out, but she says she'd like to see them through in some way.
As for the Gourmet Shop, she says she doesn’t plan to make any changes. (Certainly not to the chicken salad.)
She’s surprised that everyone asks that question.
“I bought the Gourmet Shop because I think that there is value and that the Gourmet Shop is a successful business," Franks says. "So why would I change it?
"I’ve been telling people I’m going to have the same approach coming in that I did when I started at the Five Points Association. I was scared every day. I just tried to listen more than I talked. … And tried to just contribute, not change.”
