Baba Nahm owners opening Dooogh Smoothie Shop at S&W Market

Downtown Asheville’s S&W Market is adding a breakfast-lunch concept built for quick daytime traffic, with Brian and Laura Smith bringing Dooogh Smoothie Shop & Pita’ria into the food hall’s front-window space at 56 Patton Ave. The move adds another locally owned option to a building that is increasingly competing for the weekday crowd as much as the weekend browser.

Dooogh takes its name from doogh, the Persian yogurt drink made with sparkling water and mint, and the menu is aimed at commuters, downtown workers and visitors who want something fast but more substantial than a snack. The lineup includes grab-and-go items, fresh smoothies and juices, Pisgah Coffee Roasters coffee, and breakfast offerings designed to move quickly through the market’s busiest hours.

The food list gives S&W Market a clearer morning-to-midday niche. Banana-date-pistachio-honey-mint smoothies, Greek yogurt smoothies, Pita’dilla breakfast sandwiches, wraps, market salads, parfaits, overnight oats, fresh fruit and rotating Mediterranean-inspired pastries all point to the same strategy: capture everyday foot traffic before it drifts to another block. That matters in central Asheville, where restaurants and retailers are still competing for a steady return of office workers, residents and tourists.

The Smiths already have a strong stake in that shift. They own Baba Nahm, and S&W Market’s website says they took ownership of Rezaz in 2015 before shifting their focus to Baba Nahm in 2017 with chef Reza Setayesh. Rezaz closed permanently in July 2020 after the effects of COVID-19, and the latest move shows the family’s restaurant business leaning even harder into smaller, faster service formats that fit the market’s indoor traffic patterns.

Inside S&W Market, the tenant mix has been moving again. The website says Baba Nahm moved to the rear-right space in May 2026, and the Smiths opened Dooogh a week later in the front-window spot that had previously been used by Flour. That earlier tenant, which opened on May 24, 2024, showed that the entryway can support breakfast service and all-day sales, with hours from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily and breakfast served until 11:30 a.m.

The setting gives the shift added weight. The historic S&W Building, designed by architect Douglas Ellington, first opened in Asheville on July 15, 1929, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its latest chapter is no longer just about preserving a landmark. It is about whether new concepts like Dooogh can keep downtown Asheville’s daytime economy moving while the city continues to work through the aftermath of Helene and the broader strain on neighborhood business.