The State of Downtown Retail

[bikeoid]

Bevello, a Raleigh-based women's clothing and accessories boutique is coming to 124 N. Main St. 

 

And, when not at the beginning of a sentence, bevello is not capitalized.

[gman430]

Something is going in the old West End Treasures store on Main Street in the West End.

[GvilleSC]

The bevello sign is up as renovations continue on the interior. Did they not have to get DRB approval? I don't recall seeing it.

Edited August 11, 2014 by GvilleSC

[btoy]

There have been a number that have gone up with out DRB approval, I think they changed rules recently to limit the number of items that had to go before the DRB.  Others are the e-cig store and the Brazilian wax store.  Both put up signs recently with out going through the board.

[olrob]

the Brazilian wax store.  Both put up signs recently with out going through the board.

I think we're just splitting hairs here....

[GvilleSC]

I think we're just splitting hairs here....

^^Hahaha

[GvilleSC]

This is great: http://www.greenvillesc.gov/PlanningZoning/PlanningApplications/Applications/2014/SEPTEMBER/DesignReviewBoard/09-04-2014/CA-14-244-201NorthMainStreet.pdf

 

Bravo! 

[goodbye]

Very exciting to see plans for the "restoration" of the Ayers façade!

[sc smitty]

Every time I pass by the Ayers shop, I think how nice it would look to open up the original façade.  Glad to see it finally happening.  It's refreshing to see an architect bring back some classic details for a change, rather than doing the usual modern "update" that will look dated in a few years.

[mallguy]

Bevello, a Raleigh-based women's clothing and accessories boutique is coming to 124 N. Main St.

I see that this store opened, and I saw pedestrians carrying bags from it.

I'm surprised that the building wasn't spruced up a bit before the opening. Specifically, the façade is kind of dirty; I'd have thought that a higher-end store such as this one would have at least invested in a new paint job or mildew remover or something. Still, glad to have it.

[GvilleSC]

Moe Joe's is now open. I like the paint color of the building. It's almost a chocolate brown. However, the facade as a whole looks terrible. Hope they're getting a deal on their rent for that exterior appearance.

[RiverWalker]

Beija-Flor custom denim jeans have opened their downtown retail location on S. Main Street next to Chicora Alley.

[Danmire]

Looks like Crepes on Main closed and there is a Healthy Juice bar opened in the space below the old UPS store.

[GvilleSC]

That space attracts some poor business models. It's fairly hidden due to little frontage and an awkward entry, but that is not the sole reason for this high turnover. Hopefully something more adequate will fill this void.

[goodbye]

More information regarding Methodical Coffee and the thriving local coffee house scene:

http://dailycoffeenews.com/2014/10/07/meet-will-shurtz-the-22-year-old-helping-shape-coffee-in-greenville-s-c/

[vicupstate]

fhttp://www.greenvillesc.gov/PlanningZoning/PlanningApplications/Applications/2014/NOVEMBER/DesignReviewBoard/11-06-2014/CA-14-326-21EastCoffeeStreet.pdf

 

 

Corner Pocket 

[MAJIKMAN]

fhttp://www.greenvillesc.gov/PlanningZoning/PlanningApplications/Applications/2014/NOVEMBER/DesignReviewBoard/11-06-2014/CA-14-326-21EastCoffeeStreet.pdf

 

 

Corner Pocket 

 

I don't know how I feel about this right now. But I guess it might look better, built, than on paper. I can remember feeling the same about Grill Marks when it was first announced. But ended up liking it. Well it more grew on me.

[StrangeCock]

I'm just glad that having it open onto Brown St. will finally, in some small way, start to justify all the money they spent on that street.

[GvilleSC]

Glad to see downtown getting a better bookstore. I hope they have a good set of offerings. The old courthouse should be a neat place for it!

[gman430]

Never mind.

Edited October 21, 2014 by gman430

[GvilleSC]

Elaborate. Which courthouse? Is there a PDF file for this anywhere?

The M Judson signage application for the old Courthouse on court square. The application has been updated and reveals their business at the bottom of their banners. Booksellers and story tellers. A News article apparently ran 2 days ago and confirms.

[vicupstate]

This is the only News article I see, which MENTIONS M Judson but is actually about a second bookstore, Joe's Place.  No location is listing though, except Main St.

 

 

Books odd, dusty and arcane have found a home in downtown Greenville.

Alix and Mary Bernard plan to open a new and used bookstore called Joe’s Place, 640 S. Main St., that would offer wine, beer, local art and gourmet coffee.

“I’d like this to be Greenville’s living room,” says Alix Bernard, who’s an artist by trade. “Some place to sit, relax, glance at a book or have a glass of wine and watch people go by through the window. ”

The idea is similar to Battery Park Book Exchange in Asheville, N.C., where this writer has spent many hours browsing shelves that seem to hold every title imaginable.

Bernard is a fan too.

“It’s very dark, warm and cozy,” he says.

Bernard is a voracious reader, consuming everything from biographies to art, natural history and a good dose of Charles Dickens. What he likes most, though, are the books you might come across at a flea market.

Those are the ones that will find a place in this 1,900-square-feet bookstore. Amid the stacks of fiction is an antique Danish Bible and a Webster dictionary thicker than five phone books. There are vintage manuals on farming, an entire collection of books in German and my favorite — two books of poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning printed in 1867.

“We’ve got dirty, old, cool, oddball books,” Bernard says, “It’s really kind of a treasure hunt.”

One wall of the Joe’s Place, named after Mary’s brother, will be dedicated to children’s books. A long bar will serve a selection of wine and coffee from Ethiopia, Brazil and other exotic locales. Bernard says he also hopes to feature new books by South Carolina authors and host book signings and lectures.

Tentative hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. An opening date is anticipated for mid-February.

Bernard knows it’s no small feat to open a bookstore downtown, especially with another bookstore called M. Judson also in the works. That will be a collaboration between Edible Upcountry publisher Samantha Wallace, author Ashley Warlick and Seneca bookstore owner Tricia Lightweis.

“Asheville has four or five bookstores, so I think we can coexist,” Bernard says.

Two bookstores on Main Street, Greenville. Who would have thought such a thing could happen?

[GvilleSC]

That's weird. The article I read was strictly on M Judson with a date of 10/18. It didn't give a location, but we know that information now. I'm glad they will have new books. Hopefully their selection isn't too narrow. Joe's Place was a major disappointment to me for many reasons.

Edit- just realized that article was actually from 2013! Glad to see them opening

http://archive.greenvilleonline.com/article/20131018/DOWNTOWN/310190001/Planned-bookstore-another-piece-downtown-puzzle-Greenville

Edited October 21, 2014 by GvilleSC

[Greenville]

I don't understand why anyone thinks opening a bookstore in 2014 is a good idea.  Sure, we all love the idea of a cute bookstore, but the small quirky bookstores have been struggling for 20 years.  Now, over the past 5-10 years, the huge national booksellers are struggling.  While hardcover books are not going to be extinct anytime soon, the demand for a bookstore to peruse them in is dwindling.

 

A store which addresses diminishing demand + expensive downtown rent = recipe for disaster.

[mallguy]

Surprisingly, nationwide, independent hard-copy bookstores are on the upswing and are opening again; this is just a reflection of the trend.  Digital bookselling isn't necessarily doing great; look at Barnes & Noble: the physical bookstores are doing OK and the Nook division is not.