Louisville shoppers have a new place to go in St. Matthews.

Old Navy opened Wednesday in Shelbyville Road Plaza. The clothing retailer is taking up over 15,000 square feet in the busy shopping center.

The store sits between Nordstrom Rack and Guitar Center in the plaza. It was formerly home to the Nike Factory Store, which closed in January.

The shopping center, managed by Hagan Properties, is stacked with other well-known brands, including Trader Joe’s, Quest Outdoors, JoAnn’s, Buff City Soap and CycleBar.

Old Navy is owned by San Francisco-based Gap Inc. There are a few other Old Navy locations in Louisville, including in Jefferson Mall and the Springhurst Town Center, as well as Gap and Banana Republic stores.

While Nike has moved out of the plaza, it could be opening another store down the road. The company filed plans in August for a store in Oxmoor Center. The plans show the Nike By Louisville will take up 4,900 square feet in the mall.

Right now, the only Nike location in Kentucky is the Nike Factory Store in the Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass in Simpsonville. The Lexington Herald-Leader also reported in August a Nike store is opening in The Summit at Fritz Farm.

The permit applications filed to the city of Lexington showed the store will be the retailers new Nike Live concept, which is a members-only store with a focus on mobile and a two-week merchandise rotation, Retail Dive reported.

A new-to-market, health-conscious chain will be opening soon in two popular shopping centers.

Playa Bowls, based in New Jersey, is a fast-casual restaurant that will be opening in the Shelbyville Road Plaza and Middletown Station. Sarah Cook Thiess and Brett Thiess are the local operators of the restaurants.

In a recent interview, Sarah Cook Thiess said the company specializes in bowls containing superfoods like acai, pitaya, chia pudding and more. Customers can also choose between a variety of toppings like fruit, nuts, granola and nut butters. Playa Bowls serves smoothies and juices as well.

“There are no artificial flavors. There are no syrups,” Thiess said. “There are no sugars being added to anything. We actually reduce the sugar level in many ways with all the fresh fruit.”

Both shopping centers are owned by Hagan Properties. The first location to open will be in the Shelbyville Road Plaza. The restaurant is taking up the approximately 1,900-square-foot former Murphy’s Camera, it the target opening date is in the end of 2022.

The second location is a new construction project in Middletown Station. The develope ris building a two-tenant building in the shopping center, with Playa Bowls taking up one of the spaces. That’s anticipated to open in the spring of 2023.

The general contractor on both projects is local firm Churchill McGee. Thiess declined to disclose the investment into the new restaurants.

Thiess said she wanted to bring Playa Bowl to Louisville because it’s one of her favorites when she’s traveling.

“I became familiar with them while traveling to places like West Hartford, Connecticut, and out to Scottsdale, Arizona, where they have locations,” Thiess said. “And every time I would go, I was like, ‘This is amazing’ … I would eat there at least once a day during my visit, which sounds crazy, but it is because there are so many options.”

St. Matthews and Middletown seem like the right fit for Playa Bowl because of the other healthy food options in the area, Thiess said. Specifically with Shelbyville Road Plaza, she said Trader Joes, CycleBar, as well as other gyms and Whole Foods nearby, will complement the new business.

This is a new venture for Thiess. Prior to this, she’s served in several positions at Humana for about 14 years. She said operating a franchise pulls in all the pieces of her passions and past experiences into one role.

If she had to summarize her career, she said the first half was spent in project and portfolio management, and the last half were spent devising different strategies within health care.

“I’ve always enjoyed marrying those two worlds,” Thiess said. “And that’s what this does, between overseeing a really huge project, and building relationships within the community, as well as within your own business team. But also having to create a strategy about what the right timing is for everything.”

Playa Bowls was founded by Rob Giuliani and Abby Taylor in 2014. It now has over 150 locations.

In May, I reported Old Navy filed plans with Louisville Metro Planning & Design Services for the suite that formerly held the Nike Factory Store. At the time, neither the company nor Hagan Properties, which manages the center, could comment on the deal.

An Old Navy spokesperson said in an email Thursday the store will be opening its new location in the Shelbyville Road Plaza in early fall. The Planning & Design filing shows the clothing retailer intends to fit out 15,539 square feet. Lease details were not disclosed.

The Nike store closed in January. Old Navy will sit between the Nordstrom Rack and Guitar Center in the shopping center. The filing shows Ohio-based Shremshock Architect Inc. and Minnesota-based Elder Jones Inc. are providing their services to the project.

Tommy Edwards, retail director for Hagan Properties, said in an email several more retailers have recently or will soon be opening at the plaza:

• Impromptu Boutique, a locally owned women’s retailer, recently opened in a 3,500-square-foot space.
• Waxxpot, a waxing salon with locations in Ohio, Texas and Colorado, will be opening a 1,000-square-foot location in the coming months. This will be its first Louisville operation, although it’ll also be opening a Middletown store at 13401 Shelbyville Road, its website shows.
• Sophia’s Rugs, a locally owned rug store, plans to relocate its operations to a 3,300-square-foot space in the shopping center in late summer. It’s currently located at 11300 Decimal Drive.

A few other retailers are under contract in the center and names should become available in the coming months, Edwards said.

The shopping center is stacked with other well-known brands, including Trader Joe’s, Quest Outdoors, JoAnn’s, Buff City Soap and CycleBar.