Dining and Fun in Downtown Flint

With so many great dining, shopping, and entertainment options in Flint & Genesee it’s easy to shop and dine in downtown Flint. With the winter holidays here, now is a better time than ever to spend the day, or an evening, downtown and to enjoy the city and all it has to offer.

Downtown Flint is open for business and lit and ready for the holidays. The reconstruction of the city’s iconic bricks is now at the 600 block of Saginaw Street, but businesses and restaurants are still open. The bricks project is nearly done for 2023, so you can expect the barricades to be removed soon to fully open Saginaw Street again. Parking downtown is a breeze too with it available on the street or the lot at the corner of 1^st Street and Saginaw Street or the Rutherford lot on Kearsley Street. Everything is within walking distance.

Throughout December there are wonderful shows at the FIM Capitol Theatre to round out the year with such acts as the retro revival fun of “Shadows of the 60s”, a showing of the classic film “It’s a Wonderful Life”, and a free night of Gospel music with “Flint Under the Stars: Gospel”. As you’re downtown for a show you can stop in to one of the amazing restaurants downtown offers.

Food options are plentiful downtown with Blackstone’s Smokehouse, Xolo, Cork on Saginaw, Sauce Italian American Kitchen, the Flint Crepe Company, Café Rhema, Hoffman’s Deco Deli & Café, and Churchill’s Food & Spirits. Within a few minutes’ walk from there you will find a downtown favorite, The Torch Bar& Grill, where you can get an array of bar food. Spectacular Spudz will give you the best loaded potato you’ve ever had. If you arrive a little early you can stop at the Flint Farmers’ Market for one of the many delicious eateries, they have to offer. If you don’t need a full meal you can stop into The X, PopRox, Simmer Rooftop Lounge in the Hilton Gardens, or the Loft for a cocktail, or maybe just a coffee at Biggby Coffee. If it’s a weekday afternoon you can check out the Applewood at Second & Saginaw and the Coffee Beanery, run by the Mott Community College Culinary Institute.

When it comes to shopping, you can get almost everything you need on your list. The Flint Trading Co. offers handmade jewelry and art. At Comma Bookstore & Social Hub, you can find some wonderful gift ideas as well as a book or other gift for yourself, or maybe just stop in for a poetry reading. If you know someone with a fondness for pipe smoking, you can stop into Paul’s Pipe Shop to see what they have to offer and visit one of downtown’s beloved institutions. The Shops on Saginaw have become a thriving hub for smaller businesses or satellite popups for larger sites. You can find used books at amazing BookBee, or at 1:Eleven you can find handmade leather goods; you will find local honey at My Bees Nest, or coffee roasted in Flint at Rootless Coffee. At Flintborne, Kitty’s Kloset, Lynette Rose, and Bau-Hōuse you can find a hot new outfit. Elations Health Tea, Akada Home, Coco Babez, Ella Jae Essentials, The Roman, Kkandles, and Metro Celeb offer health and beauty needs. In Flint Handmade, Regina Dunn Art, and Smith & Stone Studio offer handmade arts and crafts. Down the street, you can stop in at J London’s or the Mad Hatter to peruse the men’s fashions, or pop by the Brush Alley Skateshop for the skateboarding aficionado. Maybe stop in at Shift, in the FIM Capitol Theatre complex to check out their many gift ideas and fashions.

None of this even touches Buckham Gallery, where you can check out the latest exhibits, or Drinks of Essence where you can learn to mix drinks or become a licensed bartender.

The many offerings of downtown Flint make shopping a breeze and now that much of the bricks project is over, giving the streets and sidewalks a needed makeover, this is a great time to spend the afternoon shopping to clear up those gift-buying lists and then end the night with a bite or a drink. Spend some time under the arches, on the bricks, and near the heart of the city and share in the holiday cheer.