Portland residents bemoaning the lack of dining and grocery options in the neighborhood now have another location to try. Brolly’s Bodega, at 2441 Griffiths Avenue, opened in late July, offering up not only grocery items like chips and snacks, toiletry and cleaning items and school supplies, but also a full menu of burgers, wings and fries. And perhaps most significantly, aside from kitchen hours, Brolly’s will be open 24/7.
The owner is Raymont Forney (aka Brolly), who was born on the east end but moved to Portland in 2006 and went to Western Middle School for Performing Arts. He bought the building in 2014, which housed the popular Grismer’s Pizza for many years. He ran Brolly’s Café for about three years, up to about 2018 but hit some internal issues and let it sit for a few years, as he focused on his career as a hip-hop artist, travelling in and out of town. But this past November, he started to get serious and think about doing something with the building, revamping it and getting creative with the concept.
“Bodega is not a Louisville term,” Brolly said, adding that the intent was to give the shot a flavor beyond the usual convenience store. “It’s more East Coast. Louisville is such a melting pot of a lot of cultures, or ‘pot of gumbo’. It’s part East Coast, part Midwest, definitely southern; there’s people from all over. I wanted to bring something to the Portland community that’s needed and appreciated, and it fits perfect with the rebirth and growth of Portland going forward.”
Food fans are raving about Brolly’s grill options on social media – he also appeared on local TV — and hungry to support a Black-owned business. He also wants to build and develop a music studio on the top floor of the building, to produce tracks and record podcasts. Eventually he wants to build out a whole “media floor” to give kids something to do after school.
He is quick to recognize the support of his mother and entire extended family and friends but singled out his grandfather as a key figure in developing his business sense and hustle attitude.
“My grandfather inspired me as a kid,” he said. “He had a small business, an appliance repair shop in his house. He also ran a liquor store. We’d go out and find scrap metal to sell. He has always been a motivator for my entrepreneurship mentality.”
