Jump to content

Downtown Raleigh retail updates


Beth Y

Recommended Posts

I agree. Town Center in Va Bch which was built up from nothing started with the residential and dining component at the same time. Now the retail is starting to follow. DT Raleigh could benefit by having residential built all around the DT area then infill with more dining and retail. It's going to be exciting seeing this come about. It would be interesting to see on a map or perhaps a listing of all the new things coming online downtown including dining, retail and housing. Here is a link to an older one the Charlotte forum has if anyone has lots of free time. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I like the addition of Cherokee and Stewart down there-actually much better than a bunch of stiff bankers. They really need to keep this momentum up of going after mid-range innovative companies and start trying to get some of the Triangle tech companies down there ala American Tobacco Historic District/downtown Durham.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What would it take to get Reader's Corner, Ed McKay's, or Nice Price Books to open a location in the CBD?

Are Reader's Corner and Nice Price too tied to their current location? The Hillsborough Street locations are about a block from each other -- does that help or hurt each other? Do they (and Cup a Joe) feel they are "downtown" because they are inside the beltline?

Is Ed McKay's too "big" to go downtown? Could they send some of their duplicates from the "mother ship" into a few hundred square feet on a side street, say maybe near Father and Sons?

Motricity is in American Tobacco because it was started by two NCSSM students as Pinpoint. Are there any NC State startups that could grow with downtown in the F Street corridor? Cree was started by NCSU grads, but they just moved in RTP, so will probably be there for a while. Total Sports used to be there (I was employee 20 something) but it went kablooey with the turn of the century internet bubble.

The Morning Times was open this morning (6:30-3, M-Sat) as promised, and had a few customers as I passed by. They're open on Saturdays so will make the trek there on day 2.

Edited by ncwebguy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The GAP, and other such retailers will not work until the downtown population greatly exceeds 20,000. There are benchmarks for the retail recruitment business, and most folks are noth going to drive past the GAP at their local mall to come to the one downtown. A retailer like Urban Outfitters is more likely, because of their underrepresentation in our market, but we are still a ways off. The first phase of downtown retail will be boutique driven - a store like accipiter or 10,000 villages is MUCH more likely than a Barnes & Noble.

Does DT Raleigh have enough room for 20k people? (10k units?). Thats substantially higher than whats there now. It would be interesting to see what the maximum number of units the current zoning allows for. Assuming that some older, non-historic (or noteworthy) buildings could be razed.

I've always thought about doing it, but seem like too much work....I'm lazy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does DT Raleigh have enough room for 20k people? (10k units?). Thats substantially higher than whats there now. It would be interesting to see what the maximum number of units the current zoning allows for. Assuming that some older, non-historic (or noteworthy) buildings could be razed.

I've always thought about doing it, but seem like too much work....I'm lazy.

FYI - The planning department is currently conducting a residential capacity analysis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What would it take to get Reader's Corner, Ed McKay's, or Nice Price Books to open a location in the CBD?

Are Reader's Corner and Nice Price too tied to their current location? The Hillsborough Street locations are about a block from each other -- does that help or hurt each other? Do they (and Cup a Joe) feel they are "downtown" because they are inside the beltline?

Is Ed McKay's too "big" to go downtown? Could they send some of their duplicates from the "mother ship" into a few hundred square feet on a side street, say maybe near Father and Sons?

Motricity is in American Tobacco because it was started by two NCSSM students as Pinpoint. Are there any NC State startups that could grow with downtown in the F Street corridor? Cree was started by NCSU grads, but they just moved in RTP, so will probably be there for a while. Total Sports used to be there (I was employee 20 something) but it went kablooey with the turn of the century internet bubble.

The Morning Times was open this morning (6:30-3, M-Sat) as promised, and had a few customers as I passed by. They're open on Saturdays so will make the trek there on day 2.

I doubt Nice Price or Readers Corner can pay the rent anywhere in the CBD. I am amazed Father & Sons can. I would love to have the whole Subconscious to Wolfmart business grouping crammed onto say Hargett and Martin Streets but when new investors are paying 1.6million for a building like the one Square Rabbit is in (I think thats what it sold for per the N&O), awesome but low revenue businesses can't make a go of it. Is Ed McKays the book store up by Babys R Us?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I doubt Nice Price or Readers Corner can pay the rent anywhere in the CBD.

How do they afford the rent where they are now? Reader's Corner probably owns their location (and the house next door), but Nice Price's rent is probably not cheap. Such a store could be a few blocks off F Street, like in the retail portion of Carlton Place or near Lump. Or maybe install a smaller version of the donation rack outside Reader's Corner in the Morning Times or an art gallery.

Is Ed McKays the book store up by Babys R Us?

It used to be, but moved into a bigger location further up Capitol just north of the US 1/401 split.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to Morning Times on Saturday morning with my wife. I really like the place...great for Raleigh. They were just getting established, so I didn't see a menu or anything yet. I was kind of hoping for some breakfast items like sweet potato pancakes, french toast, etc. It doesn't appear to be that way. Nonetheless---great addition to downtown. Ashley was up front and they had pastries from Hereghty. Very good and coffee drinks were excellent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to Morning Times around 11ish on Saturday. They only had coffee and pastries (had a good cheese danish) then but were going to have a "full menu" starting today. Later there were people sitting outside drinking coffee around noon. Port City Java is now open on Saturdays as well, but I don't know what their hours are. Two other people follwed me in... The door still says M-F though, so not sure if the Sat hours are permanent or just a test.

The Big Easy does not look any closer to opening than it did during Raleigh Wide Open. Some cleanup work has been done at the Mint, but it's a ways off too. The ice cream/coffee/sandwich space on F Street across from Wachovia was putting in seats, so maybe it will open mid-September, since it is too late for mid-August.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

The new ice cream/coffee shop, Crema on Fayetteville (121 F St), is now open. Big Easy is supposed to open this week, according to a sign on their door--it looks ready through the window. Also, I believe Yancy's is scheduled to open in Oct, but I bet it will be closer to November judging by their (lack of) progress.

EDIT: Hopefully we can cover things like Dos Taquitos and others in this topic.

Edited by ChiefJoJo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw a story last night on the growing number of coffee shops downtown. Its nice to see local establishments filling this niche.

I agree. When I first moved downtown, there was nowhere to get a decent cup of coffee. Now, in addition to Helios on Glenwood, we've got Morning Times and Port City (which is finally open on weekends).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ Don't forget Tony's Cafe in City Market.

I did go there in the past.... but they were never open early enough for me to stop in on my way to work. Now morning times & port city are closer to home so I don't make it by there much any more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Port City is open till 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays now, and for a few hours on Sundays even. I went in there during the Harley rally, but was the only person there.

I saw the Big Easy sign too, but will belive it when I see it... Yancey's will have to seriously move to open by the end of the month, but you never know. Someone was in the banquet hall side taking applications for employment.

I finally went into Crema too. They were still installing cabinents, but had barrels of pieces of candy (fireballs, gum, etc) which was neat. I don't drink coffee, but they seem to have the bases covered. They didn't have hours posted, and I didn't ask. Ice cream wise, they appear to do the "vanilla/chocolate with mix-ins" format, similar to Cold Stone, Marble Slab, Maggie Moos, etc. I got a chocolate milkshake -- just under $4 for 16 ounces and pretty good. Quite creamy and "drinkable" as opposed to the "suck suck suck breathe" of Char Grill. They aren't serving lunch yet, but will in a couple of weeks. They had a place for pastries, but since it was 4:30ish, they were sold out.

Gandalfos was open, but I wanted to try Crema. Fins has some signs up in PE II, but is a while from opening.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.