For two years, the lot off Northwest Main Street where The Ivy House once stood as a haven for Southern comfort food has been a quiet gap in Williston.
Melanie’s, a family restaurant that served the community for more than 15 years, remains shuttered after a devastating fire in September 2024. And Hitchcock’s Market, a longtime small-chain grocery store, closed in October and is expected to reopen as a Winn-Dixie in December.
Despite the empty storefronts that punctuate parts of town, Williston’s business community is far from dormant.
Sad Donkey Coffee was opened in Williston in 2020 by four siblings in the center of Williston's Homestead Tiny House Resort, an Airbnb park, after they said they noticed a lack of coffee shops in town.
It operates out of a small, cozy storefront, with a slanted ceiling draped in fairy lights.
Lucy Knowles works on a horse farm and moved to Williston in January after periodically spending months there. She’s a regular at the cafe.
“I drive 40 minutes to Gainesville after they close here, or if I need to sit down and do work,” she said. “I wish there was a local coffee shop, or even somewhere to sit down and do work in a public space.”
Knowles said restaurants struggle to stay open, likely due to rising costs.
“They have a lot of trouble surviving here … I think because the prices have been so high,” she said.
Even so, the town’s business landscape is more complex, with some restaurants weathering the difficulties better than others.
Michelle Fortner opened Sister’s Place, which has just nine tables, in a 900-square-foot building in 2018. Restaurant work is in her DNA: Her great-grandmother, grandfather, and great-aunt all ran restaurants, and she learned to cook from them. Her four children now work with her. One of the restaurant’s signature dishes, fried pork chop, comes straight from her great-grandmother’s recipe.
When a former gas-station-turned-restaurant building came up for sale, Fortner bought it. She began renovations in 2024 and moved Sister’s Place into the much larger space in March of this year, expanding from 30 seats to about 150.
“We’re becoming more of a destination location,” she said. “People coming in from Tampa, Ocala, St. Augustine.”
Nearby attractions like Cedar Lakes Woods & Gardens and Devil’s Den Spring often send visitors her way, and the dive shop across the street regularly brings in clients. Still, her core crowd is local.
“We have our regulars who come every day. A lot of them come in for breakfast and lunch,” she said.
To Fortner, the business is more than a dining spot.
“It’s not just a restaurant … It's a ministry. People come here for fellowship,” she said. “The first time you’re a guest. After that, you’re family.”
Both The Ivy House and Melanie's, beloved eateries, were devastated by fires in recent years, and Fortner said rebuilding costs make opening and reopening difficult.
“The challenge is the startup,” she said. “To build something from the ground up these days is so expensive,” she said.
The building she purchased has lived many lives: once a Jack’s, then Billy-Jack’s and most recently a BubbaQue’s.
Fortner recently became a board member of Williston’s Chamber of Commerce, which she said now has more than 140 members and is evidence, she believes, of great growth.
“Williston needs more restaurants. The community is growing, and there’s a lot of traffic passing through,” Fortner said.
And in the case of businesses like The Ivy House, residents still await its reopening.
Brooke Fant, a stylist at Southern Sass with a Touch of Class Salon, recalls The Ivy House catered her wedding.
“It definitely has more of an impact than just being a restaurant. I think a lot of people have shared really special moments,” she said. “Either being catered by them, or having big parties, going in there and celebrating … they have a big impact on Williston.”
Family businesses are the heart of the town, and their impact on residents is enduring.