ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – Three weeks into the Cardinals season, downtown businesses are hoping baseball brings a turnaround.<\/p>\n
One restaurant on Washington Avenue says crowds matter, and so does how people feel about coming downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn days where, you know, Cardinals play or Blues game whenever we can get some foot traffic to come down here, it\u2019s really good for business,\u201d said Ono Ikanone, owner of Levels Nigerian Cuisine.<\/p>\n
Ikanone\u2019s restaurant sits on Washington Avenue, where business can spike from events like Cardinals fans descending downtown for a game.<\/p>\n
Nigerian restaurant brings new flavor to Washington Avenue<\/p>\n
For three years, the Nigerian restaurant has brought a different flavor and flair to downtown\u2019s main street.<\/p>\n
\u201cLevels is a space where we share our food, we share our art, we share our music, and we have been taken very well by the downtown community,\u201d Ikanone said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLevels is a brainchild of my family. It\u2019s a Nigerian restaurant. In college, I always enjoyed sharing my culture with my friends through music, through food, and so levels was the perfect opportunity for me to do both,\u201d Ikanone said.<\/p>\n
The idea for Levels started long before college. Ikanone\u2019s parents attended SIUE in the 1970s and came to St. Louis to hang out with friends. They moved back to Nigeria, then returned to St. Louis when their older children reached college age. Ikanone came to St. Louis at 14 and attended high school here.<\/p>\n
The Levels location isn\u2019t new to Ikanone. He used to host events at the space, so when it went up for sale, they jumped at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw that there weren\u2019t any Nigerian restaurants in the area. So we wanted to be pioneers and we went ahead and did it. It was a huge sacrifice, huge risk, so to speak. But so far, the way we\u2019ve been received by the downtown community and St. Louis in general, we\u2019re very happy that we made that move,\u201d Ikanone said.<\/p>\n
The second floor features art brought in from Nigerian and St. Louis artists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey come in, they put the art on the walls, and they sell them right off the walls to whoever is interested, and they keep 100% of their sales. So that\u2019s our way of getting new art for us and also being able to share our space with St. Louis,\u201d Ikanone said.<\/p>\n
Downtown works to shake stigma despite crime drop<\/p>\n
Ikanone said being downtown has had its ups and downs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s ups with the renewed energy that\u2019s being put into downtown that has helped us quite a bit. But then, downtown still has it\u2019s stigma of not having enough foot traffic. We don\u2019t experience the same population boost as other parts of the city or other parts of similar downtowns in other states. So that\u2019s one thing that, you know, I\u2019d say is not the greatest for us,\u201d Ikanone said.<\/p>\n
He said that stigma is what downtown is trying to shake.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that it\u2019s time that we start bringing positive energy and speaking about downtown positively because it is a helpful amenity for the rest of the city with revenue generation, you know, taxes, all of the things. I think that if we start speaking about it more and getting people to understand that you can come down here and play and hang out, and you\u2019ll be just fine,\u201d Ikanone said.<\/p>\n
St. Louis Metropolitan Police CompStat shows downtown neighborhoods saw overall crime down 11 percent, with zero homicides recorded downtown in 2025. Police credit targeted patrols, special-event security and focused enforcement in high-traffic areas. Even with those numbers, old and often inaccurate perceptions persist.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019ll attest to the fact that it\u2019s just fine. We\u2019re having a great time. People come here, they enjoy themselves,\u201d Ikanone said.<\/p>\n
Ikanone is encouraging other business owners to give downtown St. Louis a look, giving more people a reason to come eat, play and stay.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust keep talking about St. Louis in a positive way, talking about downtown in a positive way, and let\u2019s just keep propelling it forward and, you know, letting all the business owners know water\u2019s fine over here. Come by and hang out. It\u2019s a good place to do business, as long as we keep pushing it as a community,\u201d Ikanone said.<\/p>\n
Grant program helps new restaurant open on Washington Avenue<\/p>\n
Levels isn\u2019t the only sign of momentum downtown. Another business opened last month. Karsyn\u2019s Soule received funding from a grant that helps small businesses grow downtown. The owners chose to open on Washington Avenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat gave birth to this particular space is I actually saw, not a promo, but an offer from Greater Saint Louis Network that was actually being aired on Channel 4 that was offering incentives for businesses to relocate to downtown,\u201d said Janerra Carson-Slaughter, owner of Karsyn\u2019s Soule.<\/p>\n
Karsyn\u2019s Soule is one of five small businesses awarded grant money as part of the Downtown Retail Incentive Program. It\u2019s a partnership between Greater St. Louis, Inc. and the St. Louis Development Corporation, started in 2024. The latest round of funding is expected to total more than $115,000, paid out to recipients in increments.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there was a lot of things that had to be done before we could actually open the doors. And with the extra monies that we received from them, it helped us do a lot of things,\u201d Carson-Slaughter said.<\/p>\n
The husband and wife duo say a lot of money went into repairing the building on Washington Avenue, just steps away from the Dome and two well-known businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a completely different vibe being in downtown St. Louis, working hand in hand with some of the senior businesses like Hi-Pointe and Sugar Fire that have already been here a while prior to us being here. You know, it just amps up not the competition part, if you will, but just letting the customers know that there\u2019s a different, there\u2019s a different variety of foods, you know, for everybody\u2019s palate,\u201d Carson-Slaughter said.<\/p>\n
Karsyn\u2019s Soule offers a variety of soul food options.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started off years ago being known for our chicken wings, right? And for some reason, catfish has taken over. We\u2019re getting the word, you know, we\u2019re getting to be known for our catfish. And aside from that, we have sides that people consider to be soul food sides. You know, the macaroni and cheese, the cabbage, the collard greens, sweet potatoes, the cornbread, and everything that we do is in-house. So everything is scratch-made. So a lot of people, you know, they really take into consideration they want to come and just enjoy a nice home-cooked meal, enjoy the view and just think about grandma\u2019s house,\u201d Carson-Slaughter said.<\/p>\n
Business started in garage, moved to Fairview Heights before downtown<\/p>\n
The down-home feeling began in the Metro East. Janerra Carson-Slaughter and her husband Vernon\u2019s business started out of a garage, eventually moving into its Fairview Heights location before making the leap downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best thing we\u2019ve done, you know, 314 day, we just opened up. We said, well, we\u2019re from Illinois, so we\u2019re 618. We was like, \u2018okay, we\u2019re thinking like, \u2018What can we do for 314 day?\u2019 We went with the three whole wings and French fries, $3.14. Walking out the door, it was just moving. So we\u2019re sitting around talking. My daughter was like, \u2018Let\u2019s make this every Saturday.\u2019 So we made it the home of the 314 special every Saturday now. Three whole wins of French fries for $3.14. So people, they\u2019re catching on to it with these different foodie networks and different foodies on Facebook. Those guys are helping out a lot with the wording. So it\u2019s just been a blessing all around,\u201d said Vernon Slaughter, owner of Karsyn\u2019s Soule.<\/p>\n
The perception of crime downtown crossed their minds when deciding to open, but they say it didn\u2019t stop them.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, people leaving downtown because of safety, because of guys flying up and down the street on these motorcycles. We can\u2019t worry about that. We leave that up to the police,\u201d Vernon Slaughter said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re very visible. Some of them are undercover that we learned about just a few weeks ago. But with the visible, with the visibility of the police that I think that kind of harnesses, you know, the crime rate,\u201d Carson-Slaughter said.<\/p>\n
As the restaurant awaits the World Robotics Competition, which brings people from all over to the heart of St. Louis, they want more to think about making the move downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t be discouraged about downtown St. Louis. It\u2019s what it is. It\u2019s the beauty. You have the Dome right here, you got Busch Stadium, you have the Enterprise Center. There\u2019s so much traffic down there. Everybody can make it. Don\u2019t be ashamed. Don\u2019t be scared of failing. If you don\u2019t try, you won\u2019t fail,\u201d Vernon Slaughter said.<\/p>\n
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