On Dickinson Avenue's 800 Block, Dinner Is Somewhere Else

"We're in a space where people are showing up and they've already set aside this time as a time for entertainment," Fellowship Games co-owner Shawn Hendrix told The Daily Reflector in a story about the new businesses on Dickinson Avenue.

He was describing the evening crowd already on the corridor. His store sits in the middle of a new block that depends on it. Since December 2025, three businesses have opened next to each other on the 800 block: The Birdie Bar, Fellowship Games and Paper Plane Cocktail & Co. None of them is mainly a restaurant. One doesn't serve food, one sells food as part of a game store, and one is a cocktail bar whose co-owner calls it a "before and after dinner spot."

The owners chose this stretch because the dinner side was already in place. So the 800 block works as a sequence. You eat on the 700 or 900 block and spend the rest of the night in the middle.

Three storefronts, opened within a year

The block filled in quickly. Here is how it stacks up, west to east by address:

Two of them reuse what earlier tenants left behind. The Birdie Bar is in the former Stumpy's Hatchet House. Fellowship Games pours from taps the previous tenant, Mporium, put in.

Two of the three also share an owner. Tom Garcia is a partner in Fellowship Games and in Paper Plane.

Why they picked this block over Five Points

Paper Plane's owners considered other parts of downtown before signing. Co-owner and operator James Schank told the Reflector they looked at spaces closer to Five Points Plaza, at Fifth and Evans streets, and in other parts of the city. "We ended up landing on Dickinson because we liked the area the most," he said. "Because we're next to some really fine restaurants."

The Birdie Bar's owners, Chris and Kari Collier, landed on the same reasoning separately. They looked at locations across Greenville and kept coming back to Dickinson, where they could picture couples, families and groups having dinner first and then stopping in for a drink and a round of golf.

Hendrix gave a third version. He wanted Fellowship Games somewhere central and easy to find, so people who weren't looking for a game store might walk past and come in. "We believe that Dickinson Avenue's quickly become the place where people in Greenville go," he said.

All three were betting on the restaurants around them, and those restaurants are within a few doors.

The restaurants on either side

• Dickinson Avenue Public House, 703 Dickinson Ave. Its site lists bar hours and kitchen service Tuesday through Saturday.
• Side Bar, 707 Dickinson Ave.
• Jack Brown's Beer & Burger Joint, 805 Dickinson Ave., across from the new storefronts. It is open 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
• Native Fine Diner, 907 Dickinson Ave., one block east.

The Birdie Bar covers food a different way. It doesn't serve any, so it partners with Nash's Hot Chicken on East Fifth Street. Guests scan a QR code at the bar and the order is delivered for free, according to the Reflector.

How an evening on the block runs

The posted hours set the order of the night. The Birdie Bar closes earliest, at 10 p.m. most nights and 11 p.m. on weekends. Fellowship Games stays open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Jack Brown's stays open the latest of any place on these blocks, until 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Built around those hours, a typical Friday looks like this:

1. Dinner on the 700 block or at 907. If you want Dickinson Avenue Public House, go Tuesday through Saturday, when its kitchen is open.
2. The Birdie Bar next, because it closes first. A group can play a simulated round or shoot pool before 11 p.m. on weekends.
3. Fellowship Games two doors down, where the tables stay open until midnight. Playing the games is free, and the store sells food and drinks.
4. Paper Plane at 810, at either end of the night. Its website doesn't post hours, and the 4 p.m.-to-midnight schedule reported before it opened was a plan from its permit stage. Check with the bar before building a night around a late drink.

The bar takes its name from the Paper Plane, a modern classic made with bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino and lemon juice. Schank said the name fit a bar in the "First in Flight" state.

Daytime hours

The Birdie Bar opens at 9 a.m. daily, and Fellowship Games opens at 10 a.m. on weekends. The most regular daytime event is Mahjong Mondays at Fellowship Games. It runs from 4 to 7 p.m., it's free, and walk-ins are welcome, according to its Visit Greenville NC listing. The same listing says the Thursday mahjong group is fully booked for months.

The Reflector's coverage of the store shows the same mix. A mahjong instructor teaches rotating groups, and the reporter describes older men playing chess and preteens teaching their parents board games.

"If you have somebody in here that's really good at golf and have somebody that's not so great at golf, it kind of puts them on a more level playing ground." Kari Collier, The Birdie Bar, describing handicapped league play to the Reflector

The Birdie Bar wants to expand its two-person team leagues as it approaches its first anniversary in December. No fixed weekly league night has been posted, so ask the staff for the schedule.

The street underneath it

All three businesses opened while Dickinson Avenue was still under construction. NCDOT started the 1.3-mile rebuild from Highway 11 to Reade Circle in September 2022, mainly to improve storm drainage and reduce flooding. WITN reported that the last closed section reopened to traffic on Jan. 30, 2026, after missing a December 2025 target. The Reflector puts the closure of parts of the corridor at about 3½ years.

The finished street is meant to make walking between the blocks easier. NCDOT's project page lists brick-edged sidewalks, decorative streetlights, trees, park areas at Pitt and Clark streets, and on-street parking between 8th and 9th streets. When the road reopened in January, WITN reported that sidewalks, landscaping, the Clark and Pitt parklets, and final paving and striping were still unfinished, with completion expected over the summer. Some of those final pieces may not be done yet.

Parking after 6 p.m.

Parking comes up most as the block gets busier. Hendrix told the Reflector that the lot behind the three businesses fills quickly. Troy Dreyfus, executive director of the Downtown Greenville Partnership, said the partnership and city leaders are discussing ways to add parking. The story doesn't describe a specific plan or timeline.

For now, the city's downtown parking guide lists these options:

• Dickinson Avenue and Clark Street lots: free, two-hour public parking.
• Signed on-street spaces: also free with a two-hour limit. The limit is enforced from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., so an evening visit isn't held to two hours.
• All-day options: the 100 to 300 blocks of Reade Street, Second and Third streets between Cotanche and Washington, and First Street outside event closures.

The guide is dated March 2025, so the posted signs are the final word.

What fills in next

Dreyfus told the Reflector that a few storefronts on the corridor are still empty. He said there is interest in the stretch of Dickinson from Clark to 14th streets, and that businesses doing well in the area will draw more people who want to invest there. Paul Anderson, chairman of the Greater Greenville Chamber's board, said at the Fellowship Games celebration in September that small businesses like these are "the lifeline and lifeblood of our community."

Clark Street is also where the corridor's planned parklet sits. Any new openings there would stretch the same dinner-first evening past Native Fine Diner at 907.

If Friday nights on Dickinson have you thinking about a home closer to downtown, or about what your current place would sell for first, Meridith Andrews can map out the timing with you before you make any commitments. Schedule Your Move Strategy Session.