The Ten Top's Last Season on Shirley Avenue, and Where Ghent Eats Next

"While we are looking forward to combining our two babies into one, we are sad to leave the history of our original location behind," co-owner Heather Fraley wrote on The Ten Top's Facebook page in mid-October, as The Virginian-Pilot reported. According to the Pilot, the post drew nearly 600 reactions and more than 60 comments in its first 24 hours.

Here's the news. The Ten Top will close its 748 Shirley Ave. location at the end of 2026, and starting in January 2027 it will partly merge into Ten Top Market at 5115 Colley Ave., WAVY reported. The meatloaf and lasagna will still be sold in Norfolk. The part that ends this winter is the dining room across from the Naro. The places that opened nearby this year are brunch and beignet stops, and they don't take over that seat.

More Than Twenty Years Across From the Naro

The Shirley Avenue spot has had more than one owner and more than one name. Going by the Pilot's archives, the history runs like this:

1. 1990s: Peter Pittman opens Peter's Ten Top on Colley Avenue, beside a Papa John's and a Subway.
2. By 2000: His sister Alise Pittman takes over, drops "Peter's" from the name, and moves the restaurant to 748 Shirley Avenue.
3. Late 2011: Rick and Heather Fraley buy the restaurant together.
4. November 2025: The Fraleys open Ten Top Market at the north end of Colley Avenue, across from Elation Brewing.
5. End of 2026: Shirley Avenue closes, and the Market becomes the only Ten Top.

That means the restaurant is going back to Colley Avenue, the street where it started, roughly three decades later. This time it lands at the far north end, closer to Larchmont than to the Naro marquee.

What Moves to Colley, and What Stays Behind

According to the Pilot and the restaurant's announcement, the menu changes but the favorites stay.

The bottom row matters most. Ten Top Market will still sell the food people come for. What it can't offer is a table to eat it at, so a regular's dinner becomes something to pick up and heat in their own kitchen.

Why the Dining Room Doesn't Make the Trip

Two limits explain the table. In the Pilot story, co-owner Rick Fraley said the signature dinners will be sold refrigerated because the Colley kitchen can't handle them as hot plates, and zoning at the Market location doesn't permit indoor dining.

The reason for the merger itself is plain arithmetic. Fraley told the Pilot that ingredient costs had climbed about 20% over the past year while business had fallen 12 to 15% over the same stretch, and that the owners had "exhausted all other avenues" for making up the gap. According to the same report, the Market wasn't opened with a merger in mind. It started as extra income and became the place the business could keep going.

Costs up a fifth with fewer people walking in leaves little room for two locations, and the one that survives is the cheaper format, with a grab-and-go case, phone orders and delivery.

Ghent's Newest Tables Lean Toward Morning

Ghent has gained places to sit down this year. They lean toward breakfast, brunch and coffee.

Break Bread opened in September at the Palace Station shopping center, 350 W. 22nd St. The Daily Press review lists hours of 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday through Monday, closed Tuesday. Starters run $10 to $13, and bowls and entrees $12 to $16. The menu covers breakfast, brunch and lunch: pancakes, omelets, country fried steak, bottomless coffee and a mimosa flight. The reviewer singled out the smoked salmon bruschetta with tzatziki, the pork belly gochujang Benedict and the acai bowl. Owners Nicholas and Gilbert Mariano also run the Luvabowls food truck and The Lab Commercial Kitchen in Virginia Beach. Their first jobs were at IHOP, where they worked their way up from dishwashers to managers.

Beignets & Brew opened at 520 W. 21st St., Suite F, with a Friday-morning ribbon cutting, 13News Now reported. The franchisees are Eric Whipple and Danya Bacchus Whipple. She spent more than 20 years in television news, including time as a CBS News correspondent in Los Angeles. It settled in quickly enough to be on the participant list for Ghent Restaurant Week, which ran September 25 through October 4, 2026, alongside long-standing names like Doumar's, Fellini's, The Green Onion, Colley Cantina and Zinnia Cafe.

Both are welcome additions, built around coffee, brunch and something sweet. Break Bread closes at 2 p.m., hours before the 8 p.m. Naro screening on November 4. The places that already fill that evening role in Ghent are the Restaurant Week regulars. The newcomers add to Ghent's breakfast and brunch options.

Colley Avenue's north end is gaining in other ways too. The 757 Creative Reuse Center, a nonprofit that resells donated art materials, reopened on Colley Avenue after leaving MacArthur Mall, WTKR reported on October 5. Executive Director Beth Dryer told the station that Highland Park is "right across the street" and Colonial Place is just across the creek, so walk-in traffic is steady. The center planned to start sewing, weaving and crocheting classes in November. Add the Reuse Center and Ten Top Market to Elation Brewing, and the upper stretch of Colley has more reasons to stop than it did a year ago.

How to Spend the Last Weeks on Shirley

Starting from Thursday, October 29, the dining room has about nine weeks left. No final day of service has been announced, so "end of 2026" is the firmest date for now. The Ten Top's website still lists the Shirley Avenue address with Monday through Saturday hours.

A few ways to make the most of the remaining weeks:

• Pair dinner with a show across the street. The Naro Cinema's upcoming lineup includes the 48 Hour Film Project: Horror 2026 screening on Sunday, November 1, at 7 p.m., and Filipiñana on Wednesday, November 4, at 8 p.m. The Ten Top isn't open Sundays, so a weeknight show works best for dinner first. The Naro finalizes showtimes each Tuesday for the following week.
• Order the hot dinners while they're still hot. Starting in January, meatloaf, lasagna and salmon move to the refrigerated case on Colley.
• Ask about catering early. The Pilot reports that catering continues after the merger. Holiday orders are best confirmed directly with the restaurant, since no holiday schedule for either location has been posted.

Then mark December 6. The 6th Annual Ghent Holiday Market is listed for Sunday, December 6, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 730 Spotswood Ave., with a rain date of December 13, according to Stone Horse Honey's event listing. The AllEvents listing advertises more than 70 vendors, live music, pet photos with Santa, food and specialty drinks. The Ghent Business Association's holiday page describes a Friday tree lighting and a holiday open-house weekend leading up to the Sunday market. 2026 dates for those haven't been posted yet.

The market falls on a Sunday, when Shirley Avenue is closed, so lunch there will have to be another day that week. The pickup counter at 5115 Colley Ave. opens in January. Rick Fraley told the Pilot the outpouring of support from regulars and former staff made the announcement feel "almost like getting to go to your own funeral."

If you're wondering how this year's changes, from the Naro corner to north Colley, show up in your own home's value, the team at Carrie On Homes is glad to walk through it with you over coffee, maybe at one of the new spots on 21st or 22nd. Get a Free Home Valuation whenever you're curious.