Seasons Bakery & Café and Rockbridge Barbell are now operating a joint location at 116 Main St., just across the street from Washington and Lee’s campus.

Red Dowdell, owner of Rockbridge Barbell, opened the doors to his gym in August, while Daniel Shear, owner of Seasons, had his grand opening on Sept. 19. The building, which the two purchased together last year, underwent renovations over the summer, according to previous reporting by the Phi.

The new café’s menu is an expansion from Seasons Yield’s previous offerings. Its former location in Haywood’s, which closed in April, was only a bakery, while its Wildberry Market offers pastries, coffee and an espresso bar, according to its website.

“A sandwich is the best thing that we’ve offered thus far,” said Shear. “These hearty offerings are kind of new for us.”

The new menu features the Gaucho bowl, the dish Shear says he is most excited to offer: a flank steak over a serving of crispy potatoes with a special sauce on top. The restaurant will also cook chicken and pork belly using the custom-built smoker outside. 

The new menu is in part influenced by French-trained chef Xavier Deshayes, who recently joined the Seasons team, Shear said.

The café seats about 80 people inside and another 35 to 40 outside, bringing its total capacity to over 100, Shear said. Seating includes lounge chairs, a window-side bar and an outdoor patio.

The space also has a small retail stand with t-shirts, custom dishes and other merchandise and a small outdoor garden. The café will be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Shear said.

The journey to opening wasn’t without challenges, he said. The property Shear and Dowdell now share housed everything from a gas station to a Mexican restaurant, as well as Washington and Lee’s former print shop.

Renovations peeled back layers of past remodels before creating a modern space suited for both businesses. “We just got back to the core of what the building was and started from there,” Shear said.

For Shear and his wife Fawn, who homeschool their kids, the new café is more than just a business venture.

“I think that it’s going to be a favorite homeschool spot in town,” Shear said. “It will be an experience unlike anything that we’ve done or that is offered currently in Lexington.”

Rockbridge Barbell owner Red Dowdell hopes the new building can serve as a “third space” for Lexington—somewhere between home and work where people can gather.

“There wasn’t really anywhere else down here for people to sit, stay and hang,” Dowdell said. “We want to be another space on this end of town where people can come together and hang out.”

Rockbridge Barbell’s new gym is a leap forward for the company. Dowdell said the gym has expanded to 2,000 square feet and added some new equipment, including specialized machines sourced from college programs and pro sports teams. The gym now offers 24/7 access in addition to its one-on-one training sessions with staff.

Barbell started its operations in 2021 in a 1,000-square-foot space beneath what is now the Gin Hotel, Dowdell said. The company had moved to a location near Walker Street before moving to what Dowdell calls its new “home” downtown.

“Every location I’ve been at has been a guy with weights thrown into a space. This was purpose-built for us,” Dowdell said.

Dowdell said the move has already paid dividends since the new location opened in August, drawing visits from guests staying in downtown hotels and students who might want to do a few sets before heading to classes.

“The best business growth tool for us is people telling their friends,” Dowdell said. “There’s no way to come in or out of Lexington without driving past our business now, so that’s been awesome.”

It’s too early to tell whether Seasons will reap the same rewards. But if the new location performs as well as Wildberry Market, Shear says it will be a success.

“We’ve been swamped at Wildberry in a great way,” Shear said. “It gives me a lot of encouragement that the town can support both establishments.”

Shear also sees the new café as the start of something larger. The streamlined “Seasons” brand, which now stands apart from the Seasons’ Yield farm and bakery that hosts bread days, is designed to be replicable in other Virginia towns. 

But for now, both Seasons and Rockbridge Barbell are focused on their new homes.

“Come and experience it,” Shear said. “We’re super thrilled about what it can bring to the town and the community.”