The ‘Queer Eye’ Fab Five helped these Philly small businesses: How it’s working out.
The restaurant Alma del Mar, conceived by Italian Market fishmonger Marcos Tlacopilco, has yet to open, but Nate McIntyre's offering a free deal to potential customers who've seen his Bodyrock Bootcamp on the Netflix series.
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If you’ve watched the new, Philly-filmed season of Netflix’s Queer Eye, you may wonder what’s happened to some of the Philadelphians whose small businesses got an assist last year from the show’s Fab Five — Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, and Jonathan Van Ness — especially given how much has happened to the economy since the series was filmed.
(Spoilers follow.) Here’s what we know:
Marcos Tlacopilco, the proprietor of Marco’s Fish & Crab House in the Italian Market, is shown in the episode preparing for a “soft opening” of a restaurant on the same block that he was calling Alma del Mar, after his wife, Alma. His fish market’s still operating, but the restaurant, which he reportedly had envisioned becoming a breakfast place — possibly under another name — has yet to open.
Nate McIntyre, the trainer and gym owner in West Philadelphia whose Bodyrock Bootcamp gym got a makeover, has added a video to his website aimed at those who may have seen him on the show. Besides pitching the gym and training services to locals, he’s offering a free workout mix download that even out-of-towners can take advantage of. McIntyre, who’s also a musician and the brother of singer Macy Gray, includes two of his own songs on the mix. He’s also offering an online course, a “28-day reboot, so you can come out of lockdown a brand-new person.” Meanwhile, on his personal Instagram account, McIntyre, after seeing his episode with friends, posted a video that talked about the “surreal experience” of having his personal life opened to the world, and his appreciation of both the friends and the strangers who’ve reached out to him since it aired.
Even before the season’s June 7 premiere, Rahanna Gray’s mobile dog grooming business, Stylish Pooch, was reporting on its Facebook page that appointments were booked through August, and that new ones wouldn’t be taken until July. Gray, who was featured in a 2018 Inquirer profile, got a new van from the show to replace the broken-down RV from which she’d been working in Germantown. Her website, where prospective customers can get a quote for grooming services, now includes “testimonials” from people who saw her on Queer Eye and were impressed by both her skills and her personality.