Business owners on a burgeoning stretch of South Dixie Highway are formalizing a community of designers, shops and restaurants that grew organically from the post-pandemic boom of West Palm Beach’s most southern neighborhood.
The SoSo Design District, named for the moniker given the flourishing south of Southern Boulevard community, launched this year with the intent of better marketing what has become a hub for home furnishings and décor, luxury clothing consignment stores and design shops, such as Chelsea Lane & Co., which boasts an extensive library of wallpaper and fabric.
Chelsea Lane owner Chelsea Viau teamed with D.J. and Korinne Belock of the high-end vintage retailer Palm Beach Regency to jumpstart the SoSo Design District. They are modeling the concept after the city’s heralded Antique Row but with a wholistic vibe that includes a variety of retailers and restaurants.
“We want to be approachable,” said D.J. Belock. “We are 100% focused on marketing and promotion of the area, not just locally but nationally.”
The SoSo Design District, which is a registered Florida not for profit corporation, will also include shops that have opened in recent years along Georgia Avenue. The industrial area of car mechanics and World War II-era Quonset huts has recently attracted renowned society designers such as Danielle Rollins and Meg Braff. Braff bought and renovated a former print shop on Georgia Avenue.
Viau said she was partly drawn to SoSo because of its vicinity to new design businesses on Georgia Avenue, but also because of the redevelopment happening in the community, which is bordered to the north by Southern Boulevard and to the south by the C-51 canal and Lake Worth Beach city line.
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The neighborhood dates to the first stirrings of West Palm Beach with 1920s-era Spanish Mediterranean homes interspersed with 1950s cinderblock Ranch-style houses.
But except for a small carve-out for the Belair Historic District, the community is not historic. That means home demolitions, new builds and remodels aren’t governed by Historic Preservation Board of West Palm Beach.
While the lack of a historic designation makes old homes vulnerable to demolition, it also makes the area valuable to developers building on speculation. And those homes are often maximized for space, built to the lot line and two-stories tall with lots of room for new furniture and décor.
Businesses in West Palm Beach’s south of Southern Boulevard community are hosting SoSo Sunset Markets to promote local artists and entrepreneurs. The markets are held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. during season beginning Dec. 6 at 5710 S. Dixie Highway.
“There are so many designers who want a foothold in this area following the people on Georgia,” said Korinne Belock. “We’re in no way competing with Georgia Avenue. The upholsterers, painters, rattan shops, tradesman; those are the people who make things happen and have always been there, but the designers are now drawing people there.”
The Belocks and Viau said they noticed more foot traffic this past summer from interior designers and tourists, who were visiting Palm Beach to take advantage of off-season pricing. During their stay, some discovered the shops along South Dixie.
In the past two years several new businesses and restaurants have opened in the area.
The celebrated Hive Collective opened Pure by Hive at 4805 S. Dixie Highway, which was a geographic shift from its main cluster of shops between Belvedere Road and Okeechobee Boulevard. City Girl Consignment, known for its hot pink awning and signage, moved from its Antique Row location to a bigger shop at 5311 S. Dixie Highway. Caribe Home Furniture opened in a former gym at 5301 S. Dixie Highway. And the The Blue Door restaurant opened at 5700 S. Dixie.
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Blue Door co-founder Max Ricci said he and his wife Sara, who live in SoSo, noticed more young families moving to the neighborhood and recognized a need for a welcoming but elevated spot “that spoke to the new energy of the neighborhood.”
“So much of the West Palm growth has come from big developments with national or global tenants and big marketing budgets. This stretch of Dixie is the opposite — local, independent, and rooted in the neighborhood,” Ricci said. “That lack of polish is part of the charm. These are founder-led businesses that reflect the people behind them. It’s grown naturally because it’s real.”
Chris Blythe, operations coordinator for Alexandra Naranjo Designs, also noted an increase in window shoppers coming into his store on South Dixie. The shop officially joined the SoSo Design District, which has an annual membership fee of $150 to help with marketing and support an initiative to have streetlight banners installed similar to Antique Row.
“We feel like we are the up-and-coming neighborhood,” said Blythe, whose shop opened in 2023 at 4209 S. Dixie Highway. “We feel like it’s important to be part of the creation of another district to attract people to come to the area, show, eat and walk around.”
Blythe said Alexandra Naranjo was previously based in Toronto but had so much business moving to South Florida she decided to open the South Dixie shop.
For the past three years, the Belocks and Viau have held events for vendors and artists in their parking lot at 5710 S. Dixie called Sunset Markets. This year the markets will be held Dec. 6, March 7 and May 9 between 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
While on a smaller scale than the annual Evening on Antique Row held by the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, the Sunset Markets are a chance for SoSo residents to mingle and shop local vendors.
“I still get someone every single day who says ‘I just moved here,'” Viau said.
James & Jeffrey Antiques has been a mainstay on Antique Row since 1989, but also has an estate sale center on Georgia Avenue south of Southern Boulevard.
Manager Craig Ketelsen said he supports the SoSo Design District because it creates a destination that will attract more people. He said he’s not intimidated by the competition.
“People may not get into their car for one store, but if they can get some real shopping done, they may,” Ketelsen said. “The more the merrier. We all carry something just a little bit different.”
Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: New West Palm Beach design district launches in popular SoSo community