The strip center on Washington Road directly across from the McDonald's on Davis Road is getting a new sign this fall. It will be its third in under two years. Canales Deli tried the space first, built around take-out lunches and casseroles. Angie's Kitchen followed with a similar concept. Neither lasted a year. Now Marie's Creole & Catering, an established caterer and food truck operator with regular stops at Wellstar, Bridgestone and Kimberly Clark, is moving in with Shrimp Po'boys, Jerk Chicken Tacos and seasoned egg rolls, hoping the third attempt holds where the first two didn't.
Three miles down the road, on Furys Ferry, a storefront just filled in without any of that churn. Ironwood Tavern opened its second location in the back left corner of West Lake Commons, joining Swank, Oxygen Fitness, Cucumber and Mint, Kettle Creek Creamery and Rooted Coffeehouse in a shopping center developed by Rafy Bassali, who also co-owns Swank and Escape Outdoors. Nobody at that address is on a third tenant. They're filling in with their first.
Same Road, Different Verdict
Local business coverage has flagged the same problem at the Washington and Davis address through two ownership changes: getting in and out of the parking lot is a challenge on a stretch of road that moves fast in both directions. It's a small detail, but it shows up in the tenant history. Two lunch-and-casserole concepts opened in that lot, ran into the same driveway, and closed within a year of each other. Marie's Creole & Catering is walking into the identical parking lot and the identical entrance, betting that its existing catering and food truck relationships can carry customers past a site that's already worn out two prior tenants.
West Lake Commons doesn't have that specific documented problem. It's a newer development built as one project on Furys Ferry Road rather than a decades-old strip retrofitted around a hard corner. Ironwood's original location sits in a Publix-anchored center on Washington Road in Evans. West Lake Commons is its second address, not a replacement for one that failed.
A Few Blocks Doesn't Mean the Same Story
Not every stretch of Washington Road behaves like the Davis Road corner. A few blocks down, at the West Town Shopping Center at 3830 Washington Road, the tenant story looks nothing like the one across from McDonald's. John Phan, Hung Nguyen and Tim Nguyen own Cho Ba Mien Asian Market in that center. When they wanted to add a bubble tea shop, they didn't leave and try somewhere else. They opened Ding Tea next door in Suite 27 and put John's brother Paul in as manager. The opening drew a standing-room-only crowd, with lines out the door, according to Augusta Business Daily's coverage at the time. Taqueria El Rey operates in the same center. Nobody at 3830 Washington Road has been cycling through owners. They've been expanding under the same one.
What's Filling In This Fall
| Location | Currently there | What came before |
|---|---|---|
| Washington Road at Davis Road | Marie's Creole & Catering, opening fall 2026 | Angie's Kitchen, then Canales Deli, both under a year |
| West Town Shopping Center, 3830 Washington Road | Ding Tea, Cho Ba Mien Asian Market, Taqueria El Rey | Same ownership added Ding Tea next to their own market |
| West Lake Commons, Furys Ferry Road | Ironwood Tavern's second location, Swank, Oxygen Fitness, Cucumber and Mint, Kettle Creek Creamery, Rooted Coffeehouse | First tenants in a newer development |
Columbia County is also set to get its first Martinez Parker's Kitchen this year, the fourth in the county after two locations in Evans and one in Grovetown. That's another addition to the corridor rather than a replacement for something that closed. Willie Jewel's Old School BBQ, a longtime stop for smoked plates, isn't part of any of this turnover. It's just still there while the storefronts around it change hands.
The One Thing Every Corner Still Shares
Whichever strip center wins this round, the trail start hasn't moved. The Augusta Canal Towpath Trail begins in Martinez at Savannah Rapids Park on Evans to Locks Road and runs along the old towpath toward downtown Augusta. The Bicycle Peddler, at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion, rents bikes at the headgates for anyone heading out. Whether dinner that night comes from a new Creole take-out counter on Washington Road or a plate at Ironwood's Furys Ferry bar, the ride afterward starts in the same spot it always has.
Keeping track of which storefronts hold and which don't is part of knowing a neighborhood block by block, not just by its main roads. If you're curious what's opening next along Washington Road or Furys Ferry, or want a read on how a specific corner of Martinez is holding up, that's the kind of detail Lisa Moss and The Moss Group track every week.
