What should replace Mellow Mushroom in Kenilworth Commons?

[voyager12]

More well known as the Teeter shopping center in Dilworth on East. MM vacated the space next to the photo store. I am open to suggestions...a locally owned business would be nice. An independent bookstore or music shop? Has anyone heard rumors about tenants expressing an interest in the space? Just please no more coffee shops in Dilworth! There should be a moratorium on them in this neighborhood.

[monsoon]

..... Just please no more coffee shops in Dilworth! There should be a moratorium on them in this neighborhood.

Indeed, and unfortunately none of them serve decent coffee. Of the lot probably Caribou is the best which means it is bad when chain store coffee is the best thing going. This isn't just a problem with Dilworth as Charlotte is really lacking in the good coffee shop dept. There is a community of people in CLT that roast their own beans to avoid the bad coffee in the area.

It's a shame that mellow mushroom is gone as they actually make really good, but a bit expensive pizza. (Worth the price however.) I'm not sure what would work better in that location.

[atlrvr]

Well....not to be boring, but HT has plans to expand into that space as well as the Wolf Camera space.

[voyager12]

I guess I should be thinking food since that is the infrastructure. There are a glut of new restaurants in the area though. There can only be so many gourmet pizza places or fusion. Maybe a 60s style diner? That would be great! It could be open 24hrs and attract clubbers and other late night denizens. Its hidden though so they would need a sign on East. Sheesh. I am planning a nonexistent restaurant. I need help. Fast.

[monsoon]

Well....not to be boring, but HT has plans to expand into that space as well as the Wolf Camera space.

Oh Joy.

[voyager12]

Damn. What a buzzkill. Thanks A LOT Atlvr. ;-) I should a vision too. Oh well. The HT megaoctopus grows ever larger.

[DigitalSky]

Well....not to be boring, but HT has plans to expand into that space as well as the Wolf Camera space.

It's the almighty HT...

Yeah, someting small locally owned would have been nice to fill the spaces instead

[f0xym0p]

I'm glad that HT is expanding. It is too cramped in there. I wish they would extend their hours also. I don't understand why most of the HTs in the outskirts are 24 hours but most of the ones in town close at 12 or even 10.

Yeah, it would have been nice to have a new locally-owned restaurant, but it could have just as easily been a dry cleaners or something else I don't care about.

I have to admit I didn't even know that Mellow Mushroom was closed. I don't really care for that place.

[DigitalSky]

I'm glad that HT is expanding. It is too cramped in there. I wish they would extend their hours also. I don't understand why most of the HTs in the outskirts are 24 hours but most of the ones in town close at 12 or even 10.

Yeah, it would have been nice to have a new locally-owned restaurant, but it could have just as easily been a dry cleaners or something else I don't care about.

I have to admit I didn't even know that Mellow Mushroom was closed. I don't really care for that place.

I agree it'd be nice if they could keep more 24 hr stores in the city instead of driving out to Cotswold or Morocroft

[voyager12]

I am glad to finally hear some other people beotch about the Dilworth Teeter's lame operating hours. We live in a city neighborhood, not out in the country! I complained once but one of the employees said they follow the center's closing time which is at 10 and the amount of traffic later at night does not justify it. A bunch BS I think but I would be willing to compromise at 11:00. A 10:00 closing is just waaay to early!

[DigitalSky]

I am glad to finally hear some other people beotch about the Dilworth Teeter's lame operating hours. We live in a city neighborhood, not out in the country! I complained once but one of the employees said they follow the center's closing time which is at 10 and the amount of traffic later at night does not justify it. A bunch BS I think but I would be willing to compromise at 11:00. A 10:00 closing is just waaay to early!

10 is way early. What time does the Dilworth Bi-Lo close?

[atlrvr]

Bi-Lo closes at 11pm

[DigitalSky]

Ok yeah. It doesn't make much sense for this area NOT to have a 24/7 grocery store!!

[Norm2]

Yea, the closed 24/7 grocery store that i am aware of in the city is over in cotswald. The majority of the 24/7 stores are in the suburbs, which I think is stupid. You would think that a higher population in the city would be able to justify a 24 hour store. I like to do my grocery shopping at night when there are no lines.....

[monsoon]

The Harris Teeter near and CVS here in Huntersville is open 24 hours/day, but there is a hospital across the street that may support it more in the middle of the night.

[Miesian Corners]

I am glad to finally hear some other people beotch about the Dilworth Teeter's lame operating hours. We live in a city neighborhood, not out in the country! I complained once but one of the employees said they follow the center's closing time which is at 10 and the amount of traffic later at night does not justify it. A bunch BS I think but I would be willing to compromise at 11:00. A 10:00 closing is just waaay to early!

I give the Teeter credit for closing so early. The Dilworth neighborhood asked them to do this when the store openened originally (there are quite a few houses backing up to the center) and they agreed When the store expanded, this came up again, and again, Ruddick agreed. Besides, if you need a bag of flour that bad at 11, then you won't mind driving over to Cotswold.

Rumor is that Edens and Avant (Kenilworth Commons' owner) plans to demolish the oldest section of small shop space and redesign the parking lot. My understanding is that the small shops will be rebuilt in a more "urban" fashion, i.e. they will hug East Blvd and connect to the new shops that were built last year.

[DigitalSky]

yup, here's the website for the shopping center if anyone's interested http://www.edensandavant.com/oc_center_detail.aspx?cid=84

[dubone]

Rumor is that Edens and Avant (Kenilworth Commons' owner) plans to demolish the oldest section of small shop space and redesign the parking lot. My understanding is that the small shops will be rebuilt in a more "urban" fashion, i.e. they will hug East Blvd and connect to the new shops that were built last year.

That is great news. It will do great things for East Boulevard to have that much addition pedestrian-oriented street-facing retail. I actually hope they remove the main entrance next to the 130 in this siteplan, and connect with buildings all the way from 130 to 240, with the possible exception of another small entrance driveway like the one currently next to that 240 building.

[monsoon]

Just to put this Harris Teeter in perspective, there was a great pre-War apartment complex, constructed of brick and had iron framed windows, with an interior court yard that as demolished to make way for this particular strip mall. I remember sitting there drinking a beer with a friend of mine that lived at the place while watching the street activity on East Blvd. It has much less of a neighborhood feel now because a lot of people that shop at that HT that don't live in Dilworth. Some say the rise in crime in the area began when that store opened.

I think it would have been nicer if HT had stayed out of the neighborhood and a smaller grocier had rennovated one of the existing buildings. They already had Disco Kroger known now as Bilo on Park Rd where Charlotte Ave. hits it so I don't think a 2nd grocery store was needed. (which at the time was open 24 hours/day)

This would seem to be a plan of Harris Teeter. Get approval for a smaller express store, then once settled in, expand it to a full sized grocery store which will bring in a lot more people. They recently did the same thing in Rosedale where its fairly new express Harris Teeter was just expanded to a regular sized store. It wasn't as great a loss there as it took out a GNC, but the increase in traffic into that once neighborhood store has not been good for the area. Thankfully Davidson refused to let HT do this to their downtown a couple of years ago.

[dubone]

Just to put this Harris Teeter in perspective, there was a great pre-War apartment complex, constructed of brick and had iron framed windowes, with an interior court yard that as demolished to make way for this particular strip mall. It has much less of a neighborhood feel now because a lot of people that shop at that HT that don't live in Dilworth. Some say the rise in crime in the area began when that store opened.

I wonder whether the crime has gone down since this fall, when the SuperWalmart opened on Wilkinson. I know there were a lot of people who came to this Harris Teeter from some higher crime neighborhoods on the west side. Now, however, they probably are closer to the less expensive Walmart.

I used to shop at this HT a lot before they expanded. When my wife and I moved to uptown, on our first trip to this HT, my wife had left her purse in the baby-seat section of the cart. Some homeless-looking guy picked up her purse, handed it to my wife, and said "don't leave your purse there, some stranger is gonna walk away with it" . It was one of those bizarre experiences, but I'm sure she's never left her purse in the cart again.

[monsoon]

There has been always been shopping on Freedom drive, so I am not sure that people from this area would have ever had a huge incentive to go and drive to one of the most expensive stores in town. I'm also thinking that hardworking people that live on the West side that shop in these stores are not the ones that are committing the crimes.

[DigitalSky]

Speaking of the Freedom drive area of town, does anyone know if the Winn-Dixie on Alleghaney Street has been replaced.... and has Super Wal-Mart affected the Bi-Lo on Ashley Road?

[TrueLight]

Indeed, and unfortunately none of them serve decent coffee. Of the lot probably Caribou is the best which means it is bad when chain store coffee is the best thing going. This isn't just a problem with Dilworth as Charlotte is really lacking in the good coffee shop dept. There is a community of people in CLT that roast their own beans to avoid the bad coffee in the area.

It's a shame that mellow mushroom is gone as they actually make really good, but a bit expensive pizza. (Worth the price however.) I'm not sure what would work better in that location.

I am curious if some of those who live in the other areas of uptown charlotte can suggest a place to get a good cup of coffee. I would also love to find a place for an excellent pizza, as I have become weary of making them myself these days-and that is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Thanks as always and Happy New Year!!!!

[monsoon]

My personal opinion is that Tony's Pizza and the Mellow Mushroom are the best in CLT right now. Tony's has several locations.

As for coffee that is really tough. There is another thread in the Charlotte Coffee house where this is being discussed. You want to look for a place that serves espresso based drinks as their primary drinks. If you want a cup of coffee, a good coffee shop will serve you an Americano, not drip coffee. (Drip machines should be forbidden) Most people don't understand the difference which is why its really hard to find good coffee in CLT.

[ciordia9]

As for coffee that is really tough. There is another thread in the Charlotte Coffee house where this is being discussed. You want to look for a place that serves espresso based drinks as their primary drinks. If you want a cup of coffee, a good coffee shop will serve you an Americano, not drip coffee. (Drip machines should be forbidden) Most people don't understand the difference which is why its really hard to find good coffee in CLT.

Not all drip machines are alike these days (of course that is predicated that a local non-informative owner even understands). The two biggest sins for coffee is its (born on date) age and the duration of sitting in one of the thermal carafes. Americano's are a good alternative but most places add too much water off the bat. Just because a cup is 10oz doesn't mean I need 8oz's of extra water (2oz for proper shot, proper americano should just be 6-8oz)

Charlotte's funny on regulating coffee shops too.. Health dept requires grease traps "for the cream" (pah!) which adds an extra cost (and smell) to deal with, as well if you want to serve ceramic cups (which is where cafe's SHOULD be) you leave the Agri-license and enter full scale health-dept crackdown requiring a lot more overhead.

SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) is having their trade conference here in April and that might bring some serious mindshare to the area since the coffee geeks/snobs that come are going to have a serious bat to crack over our heads.

Back on topic, looking at the proposal, a lot of that area could use a better organization but I hope they keep the "cuteness" of the area. Charlotte has that notion to come in and yuppify-clean an area to sterility leaving out the context of the area. I enjoy my trips to that side of town and hope the developers have soul ;-) I hear whole foods is coming to town not that this area will benefit (Tally's is pretty cool).

babble babble.. I need lunch --a