C-J sez: “Wick’s Pizza is expanding to New Albany.”

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I’ve recently toyed with breaking this story, and decided in the end to wait for the “official” announcement, local media-style.

Wick’s Pizza is expanding to New Albany, by Grace Schneider (Courier-Journal).

Wick’s Pizza Inc., a locally owned chain in Louisville, is preparing to open a restaurant in downtown New Albany.

The store, the fifth Wick’s location, is expected to open by late July at 225 State St., the former location of Speakeasy, a restaurant and live jazz club.

It’s big, all right. Whether you like Wick’s Pizza Parlor & Pub or not, there’s no disputing the company’s iconic Louisville status. To many people, Wick’s epitomizes the Highlands (its original location) and is significant in a way that chain-mad Bearno’s or Joe’s OK Bayou simply are not. Iconic Louisville businesses tend not to come to New Albany. This is groundbreaking, indeed.

This announcement is wonderful, but it doesn’t come without red flags. I hope to see the Highlands vibe, not the atmosphere cultivated at the Wick’s location on Dixie Highway, with its Ms. Miller Lite bikini contests, karaoke and fight club promos. One does what one must do to survive. Let’s hope that survival in New Albany can be achieved along a, er, higher road.

Make no mistake: I’m for Wick’s being downtown.

I look forward to selling them beer. And, as IAH noted earlier today, the owners of Wick’s noticed all those people congregating around the YMCA, a observation that puts the lie (as if we needed more proof) to the persistent troglodyte urban legend that the Y itself could not draw people downtown.

Private investment is doing its part. Now, the city needs to do its part: Two-way streets, repaving, and infrastructure investments. It’s a partnership, Erika. That’s the way it works in places that are functional. Perhaps it might yet work here, council permitting.

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