Blow bars, wine clubs and boujee burger joints: here are 8 new businesses in Adelaide’s east
From hairstyling bars that serve French champers to an all-American burger joint, the inner southern and eastern suburbs have a range of must-visit new businesses.
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The inner-southern and eastern suburbs of Adelaide are well known for their up-market shopping destinations, high-end retail stores and gourmet eateries.
And there’s some new booming businesses in town – from luxe blow bars serving French champagne to loaded all-American smash burgers.
We take a look at the newest businesses to open in Adelaide’s inner-south and east – including the stories of the people who own them.
Blow Out Style & Bar
Location: 70 Unley Rd, Unley
Michelle Fahey had been a stay at home mum for nine years but wanted a change.
She “wanted to do something with my brain instead of laundry and cooking and cleaning” and loved to have her hair done but couldn’t do it by herself.
After seeing blow bars interstate, salons that specialises in only hair styling, she took the plunge and set up shop in the eastern suburbs in March.
“I’ve been to these bars interstate and overseas and they just work. Lots of people like getting their hair done … 10 years ago when you had your hair done you got it cut or coloured, now people get their hair done for a lot of reasons, it’s like getting your nails done,” Mrs Fahey, 41, said.
“Ninety-nine per cent of our clients are women and they do all of the looking after in their lives, their husbands, kids, their household. If they come in here for an hour, we’re going to look after them.”
Mrs Fahey used to have a catering businesses and wanted her salon to have more of a bar feel to it, clients can order French champagne, cocktails and snacks while they sit back and get their hair styled.
“I think in the middle of the day if you’ve come out of work for an hour to get your hair done, you’ll want a snack to go along with your cheeky glass of wine,” she said.
“I wanted to combine food, wine and hair because that’s what I would want to go and have.”
On the salon’s menu are cheese platters, croissants, cupcakes, homemade biscuits and tapas – which you can nibble on with a drink or two.
“You feel more put together in life when you know your hair looks good, you feel more capable of handling other things in your life.”
Studio Spring
Location: 3/96 King William Rd, Goodwood
Studio Spring opened its second pilates studio in Goodwood in August last year.
Lauren Sebastiani, previously a physiotherapist, owns the business along with her fiance Danny Cooray and business partners Harrison Raphael and Dylan Auciello.
Ms Sebastiani said during her first year as a physiotherapist, she lacked job satisfaction and decided to band with her current business partners who own a few hospitality venues across Adelaide including Archie’s Clubhouse and Loverboy.
“Danny would say I was so happy coming home from teaching reformer pilates compared to how I had been coming home from my physio and just said why don’t we open a studio,” Ms Sebastiani said.
“It seemed way to risky for me, especially coming from my ethic (Italian) upbringing. My dad was a very anti-risk type of person and didn’t really encourage us kids to go out and open a business and things like that.”
Luckily Ms Sebastiani took the risk and opened her first studio aged just 25 in 2021 and expanded to Goodwood two years later.
Dolly
Location: 246 Unley Rd, Unley
Here comes Dolly! The daughter of ever-popular Bar Lune, Dolly is a bar known for being a perfect pair of cocktails and mingling with a touch of disco.
Dolly opened in January with owner Sam Worrall-Thompson wanting to create a different vibe to The Parade’s Bar Lune.
“It’s proven to be quite hard, I think because everyone has labelled us as the boys from Lune I think everyone expects it to be Lune. That was never the idea, I didn’t want it to be the same,” Mr Worrall-Thompson said.
“I was trying to do something different where we didn’t need as many chefs and it was more drinks focused.”
Mr Worrall-Thompson said he thought there was a massive gap in the market in the east for a drinks bar and Dolly is the answer.
“People come in dressed up to the nines and put in the effort,” Mr Worrall-Thompson said.
“Dolly is bringing in a really nice crowd and a younger crowd … we wanted that special occasion place but in the suburbs.”
This is not a book club
Location: 65e Dulwich Ave, Dulwich
Mum and daughter team behind wine company Longbottom Vintage decided it was time to open up a wine club.
Kim and Margo Longbottom were talking about what the concept of their own wine club would be when the idea struck them.
“We were talking about how successful book clubs are and Margo said why don’t we call it ‘This is not a book club’?” Mrs Longbottom said.
This is not a book club opened just before Christmas 2022 and allows patrons to dine and taste the varieties of wine from their own label.
“Margo and I love everything French, fashion, food and wine so we wanted the look and feel of a French wine bar,” Mrs Longbottom said.
“We wanted to do it fairly simply but stylish as well, but we wanted it to be really approachable.”
Customers can expect all local produce from Adelaide businesses on the menu while they meet up at the venue with their clients, colleagues, friends or family.
This is not a book club is open Tuesday to Friday, 2pm to 6pm, and Saturday mornings 10am – 1pm.
Soul Supps
Location: 270a Unley Road, Hyde Park
Friends turned business partners Luisa Helps and Erin Canto opened up Soul Supps, a health and supplement store, in January.
Both women are mums who own pilates studios in Adelaide and Melbourne and have always been passionate about health and fitness.
“We’ve always had conversations about supplements due to my background in gyms,” Dr Helps said.
“I’ve always taken a protein one and Erin has said she thought she should take something but doesn’t know what and to go into a supplement store seems a bit intimidating.”
The vision for their store is to provide a welcoming space where anyone can walk in and have a discussion with a knowledgeable person and feel comfortable asking questions about supplements. Dr Helps is a chiropractor and both she and Mrs Canto are studying a diploma in sports nutrition.
“We wanted to create an environment where people could ask whatever questions they wanted and try things before they bought them,” Dr Helps said.
“We give them information about what it is they are getting and why they should be taking it but more to the point is listening to them and finding out what it is they are wanting it for.”
Africola Canteen
Location: 1/89 The Parade, Norwood
The beloved and often booked out Africola on East Terrace expanded to The Parade in November last year.
“The reason we opened Africola Canteen is because of how popular Africola is and how infamously difficult it is to get a table,” owner Duncan Welgemoed said.
“We wanted to do something a little bit stripped down, take away heavy, and to serve a broader demographic.”
On the menu is hot and spicy peri-peri chicken as well as delectable and good quality salads.
The restaurant seats 30 people and is walk-in only, a stark difference from its namesake.
“One of the big things for us is not only people grabbing lunch but also grabbing stuff for dinner,” Mr Welgemoed said.
“For instance people are cooking salmon at home for dinner, they’ll go and grab three or four of our salads. The salads themselves have about 20 ingredients, so we take the hard work away.”
Diary Nail Care & Art
Location: 221D Unley Rd, Malvern
Qualified nail tech Yuki Uzelac opened her dream nail studio on Unley Road in June 2022.
After training in nail care and art in Tokyo in 2005, she has brought her talents to Adelaide with a mission to “provide best maintenance with the right knowledge and grow healthier, natural nails with the best quality gel.”
The focus for the salon is not just to paint nails, but to care for them as well. Ms Uzelac said nail preparation and nail care is her favourite work to do on her clients.
“I believe having beautiful nails with colours affects people’s mood and emotions. It’s ageless. Not only to have funky or full of nail art, having beautiful and healthy nails gives self-confidence and excitement in life,” Ms Uzelac said.
“I love to see smiles on my customers. It’s just nails, but I believe it has so much power, that is why I keep improving my skills and knowledge to share with my customers who haven’t felt the feeling yet.”
Diamond Burger
Location: 3/563 Portrush Rd, Glenunga
The dream team behind beloved Brighton cafe C.R.E. A. M delighted the eastern suburbs by opening up an all-American diner in February this year.
Owner Josh Rivers said the joint specialises in smashed patties, fried chicken, short order breakfast and seafood.
“Our burgers are big and affordable … everyone thinks our chicken burgers are the best in Adelaide,” said Mr Rivers.
If you’re craving huge beef or fried chicken burgers, chicken wings, mac and cheese, anything delectable and deep fried, look no further than Diamond Burger.
The 50 seat diner is open seven days and has a “very Miami Vice” interior, with a white backdrop and neon lighting.
“I love basketball, so there’s basketball paraphernalia all over the walls and two big TV screens that will be playing basketball pretty much 24/7 and also all the other major sporting events,” Mr Rivers said.
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