Huntsville’s ChurchStreet Family Group an Alabama top retailer

HUNTSVILLE – You can say the Alabama Retail Association has good taste.

Well, at least the judges for the Alabama Retailer of the Year contest do.

ChurchStreet Family Restaurant & Hospitality Group, a multi-concept restaurant and hospitality group owned by Matt and Stephanie Mell, was voted Alabama’s Retailer of the Year.

The business, with locations in Huntsville and Athens, won in the Annual Sales More Than $5 Million category. The award was presented today by the Alabama Retail Association at ChurchStreet Family’s Gates Avenue headquarters in Huntsville.

“To be recognized as the best in the state is overwhelming but shows that we are making a positive impact in our community and in our state,” the couple said. “That is a dream come true.”

This is not the first statewide award the Mells have won. In 2023, they were named Restaurateurs of the Year by the Alabama Restaurant and Hospitality Association.

The Alabama Retailer of the Year judges in this category, all former Retailers of the Year, chose the Mells and ChurchStreet Family for “the diversity of their restaurant and bar concepts” and “overall business model, community involvement and customer experience.”

“Matt and Stephanie Mell are retailers of the year every year to their customers, 90-plus employees and the Huntsville and Athens communities,” said Alabama Retail Association President Rick Brown. ChurchStreet Family has been a member of the Alabama Retail Association since its inception in 2014.

The group operates:

• ChurchStreet Wine Shoppe, a wine bar and bottle shop at 501 Church Street in Huntsville, open since September 2014. In January 2023, the Mells opened a second location at 485 Providence Main Street.
• Purveyor, a bourbon-centric casual fine dining establishment at 201 Jefferson Street in Huntsville, open since 2017. In 2023, the Mells added The Library at Purveyor Piano Bar in an event space next to Purveyor for late-night drinks and live, local musicians on weekends as well as a jazz dinner on Thursdays.
• Pourhouse, a comfortably swanky rooftop bar, open since 2019 at 3414 Governors Drive in Huntsville’s Stovehouse development, a former factory turned into a food, drink, shopping and leisure destination.
• Sea Salt, an urban oyster bar, open since 2020 at 114 Clinton Avenue in Huntsville. Open for lunch and dinner with a full bar. It has both sidewalk and garage seating.
• Catacomb 435, an underground speakeasy that requires a password and reservation to enter, open since 2020 at 100 Jefferson Street in Huntsville. It serves craft cocktails and wine.
• Mazzara’s Vinoteca, which first launched in 2019 in the Stovehouse development, reopened in June 2021 in the historic Humphreys-Rodgers House at 102 Gates Avenue in Huntsville. Named after Stephanie’s grandparents, Mazzara’s serves authentic Italian food, all family recipes, paired with wine or beer.
• L’il Mazzara’s, the popular concept’s second location, which opened at 102 Washington Street in Athens in December 2022 with the same Italian cuisine and drink as Huntsville’s Mazzara’s. The Retailer of the Year award will travel to L’il Mazzara’s after the presentation in Huntsville so the Athens staff can also be a part of the celebration.
• ChurchStreet Test Kitchen. The first brick-and-mortar restaurant to open on the concourse of the Orion Amphitheater. It operated as a restaurant there in the Orion’s second season in 2023. The Test Kitchen serves as the catering arm of ChurchStreet Family.

“We sell transformative and immersive dining, tasting and event experiences through our multiple restaurant and bar concepts,” the Mells said in their Retailer of the Year entry form. “We strive to use the art of hospitality to not only deliver unique one-of-a-kind menu items but build on that to bring memorable experiences that our guests cannot get anywhere else.”

“The ChurchStreet Family businesses plan and support community events like the Crush Wine and Food Festival, which highlights local restaurants and businesses, drawing people to our community annually,” said Ashley Engles-Ross, vice president of small business for the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, one of two ChurchStreet nominators.

The group “provides an exceptional culinary experience, dedication to the community and consistent collaboration with local initiatives,” said Pammie Jimmar, president of the Athens-Limestone Chamber of Commerce, who also nominated ChurchStreet.

The ChurchStreet Family businesses also are among six companies contending for the Huntsville/Madison County chamber’s 2024 Hospitality Services Business of the Year, and Stephanie is one of 15 contenders for the chamber’s Russell G. Brown Executive Leadership Award.