A popular bar on Central Avenue served its last customers last week.

TapHouse 61 at 2061 Central Avenue in the Grand Central District has closed after nearly nine years in business.

The neighborhood bar offered more than a dozen craft beers on tap along with cocktails, wine, and bottled beer, attracting a loyal following of regulars, service industry workers, and neighborhood residents.

TapHouse 61 opened in 2017 after its owners rebranded the space’s previous concept, Sly Bar.

The earlier bar, which debuted in 2014, had developed a reputation as a casual dive known for its sandwich menu and live music.

When Sly Bar pivoted to TapHouse 61, owner Joe Robertson expanded the bar’s craft beer focus by increasing the number of taps, introducing a broader selection of bottles and cans, and hosting beer-centric events.

A new bookstore called Pages and Perks is preparing to open at 914 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street South near Historic Roser Park and the St. Petersburg Innovation District.

The 1,600-square-foot space is currently under renovation and owner Kate Johnson tells St. Pete Rising that Pages and Perks is slated to open this summer.

“People need a place to escape in a world that is stressful and very screen heavy, and we want to provide a space where people can escape through their story of choice,” Johnson said.

Pages and Perks will carry books across a range of genres, with a focus on fiction and works by local authors.

Inside, a lounge area will welcome readers of all ages. Parents can enjoy beer, wine, or mocktails at a six-seat bar while children spend time in a kid-friendly section of the store.

Bottled mocktails will be provided by Curious Elixirs, which incorporates ingredients such as adaptogens, herbs, and mushrooms into its nonalcoholic beverages.

Johnson says the bookstore is designed as a flexible gathering space that will host book clubs, game nights, book signings, local author events, poetry readings, and meetups for games like Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.

A new Americana-themed bar is rolling into downtown St. Pete this weekend and it’s bringing red Solo cups, plastic flamingos, and a whole lot of nostalgia with it.

Trailer Daddy opens this Friday, March 6th at 8 p.m. at 217 Central Avenue, taking over the space most recently occupied by Glamper.

The concept is the vision of Matt Knoth, Director of Art and Design and Partner at Ohio-based Forward Hospitality, the team behind Welcome to the Farm, Good Night John Boy, Hi 5, My Rich Uncle, and Tony D’s Sub Shop — all located on the Jannus Block in downtown St. Pete.

While Glamper had a camping vibe, Trailer Daddy embraces what CEO Michael Schwartz calls “the best kind of American chaos.”

“When he proposed this, Glamper wasn’t doing poorly,” said Forward Hospitality Partner Mark Acchione. “But this space should be doing more. It needed a hook — and this concept has one.”

The result is a part-club, part-bar concept built around nostalgia, humor, and photo-ready moments.

A new field of color has quietly taken root in the Warehouse Arts District.

Tucked along 3rd Avenue South between 22nd and 23rd Streets, just steps from 3 Daughters Brewing and Sol St. Pete Bistro, Padme Flower Farm is turning an empty grass lot into a hand-tended haven of ranunculus, snapdragons, anemones, ageratum, and phlox.

The one-acre urban flower farm is the creation of Mallika Nair, an environmental studies graduate, agroecology scholar, and longtime community gardener who says flowers weren’t always part of her plan.

Nair grew up in New York City but spent weekends at her family’s home in Pennsylvania, where compost piles and time in nature planted early seeds of curiosity.

She later studied environmental studies at New College of Florida in Sarasota, focusing her degree on food systems.