Another bar/restaurant bites the dust

[Scribe]

10 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Tavolo closed. 

That did not take long... I still can't decide if they were just at the wrong place (location) or if the atmosphere was just wrong, but something was off (for me) with that place since they opened.

[DMann]

Food was mediocre at best

[JoshuaDrown]

15 hours ago, DMann said:

Food was mediocre at best

I ate at Tavolo only twice, but liked it both times, and I thought they did a fine job with the renovation.

I think a lot of what goes on in that area of N College has to do with a lack of density in First Ward. I go to Lucky’s and I go to Flight, and the whole area just has less people on the street than S College and S Tryon. Once we have residential around First Ward Park at 7th St & 8th St then there will be so many more bodies walking past all those locations and they will do fine.

Danny’s wasteland has harmed so many businesses. 

Edited December 6, 2017 by JoshuaDrown

[Temeteron]

56 minutes ago, JoshuaDrown said:

I ate at Tavolo only twice, but liked it both times, and I thought they did a fine job with the renovation.

I think a lot of what goes on in that area of N College has to do with a lack of density in First Ward. I go to Lucky’s and I go to Flight, and the whole area just has less people on the street than S College and S Tryon. Once we have residential around First Ward Park at 7th St & 8th St then there will be so many more bodies walking past all those locations and they will do fine.

Danny’s wasteland has harmed so many businesses. 

That’s BS. It’s not the lack of density. That area was booming in the late 90’s and even up to 2012, back when there was barely anything around there. Don’t think it’s the density. It’s just they need something more appealing.  Overpriced and overrated Italian food that isn’t authentic is all over Charlotte. We need something that we don’t have already. Also want to add that it might also have to do with the epicenter, music factory and all the breweries in South End taking the attention away from people who used to go to Cosmos/Forum/Republic aka N. College block

Edited December 6, 2017 by Temeteron

[JoshuaDrown]

51 minutes ago, Temeteron said:

That’s BS. It’s not the lack of density. That area was booming in the late 90’s and even up to 2012, back when there was barely anything around there. Don’t think it’s the density. It’s just they need something more appealing.  Overpriced and overrated Italian food that isn’t authentic is all over Charlotte. 

I understand that there were popular bars here back in the day,  but new restaurant concepts in urban neighborhoods are incredibly impacted by the amount of pedestrians that walk by their front door. There are three primary impactors a business like Tavolo has for success: location and foot traffic, product, and marketing. People that don’t know you exist cannot spend money with you. 

I agree with you that the concept could be improved with something more dynamic, but the product was fine. I live in the neighborhood and went with friends, we were all happy to have accessible Italian Uptown, but not so happy to go more than a few times per year. If you simply increase the amount of bodies living in the neighborhood then you exponentially increase the odds for the success of the business. Everything in this corridor will benefit dramatically once the lots in Levineland are developed and N College and N Tryon have more foot traffic. 

Edited December 6, 2017 by JoshuaDrown

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

^Oh man, Cosmos-Forum-Bar CLT-Alley Cats!  

Those places were jammed packed every night of the week it seemed.  Needs to be a tenant that mixes well with the ones already there (trying to think what would work...).  Wasn't there talk though about turning that whole block into a highrise residential?  I wonder the timeline on that.  

[Temeteron]

39 minutes ago, CharlotteWkndBuzz said:

^Oh man, Cosmos-Forum-Bar CLT-Alley Cats!  

Those places were jammed packed every night of the week it seemed.  Needs to be a tenant that mixes well with the ones already there (trying to think what would work...).  Wasn't there talk though about turning that whole block into a highrise residential?  I wonder the timeline on that.  

The small room of formerly Phoenix-Forum-Mythos was converted to a jazz bar called “Imperial” which I think is a great spot. It’s just a little bit on the chill side.  So you don’t really see a lot of foot traffic or commotion like before. Where Bar Charlotte was is Lucky’s arcade which is doing ok but still not really slammed. Flight is where Republic was and that is doing ok but still do t really hear about it too often like other spots around south end and Plaza. There is a lot of competition in the beer world now. They should make it a Chinatown

[Scribe]

2 hours ago, JoshuaDrown said:

There are three primary impactors a business like Tavolo has for success: location and foot traffic, product, and marketing. People that don’t know you exist cannot spend money with you.

They were across the street from the front door to a pretty large hotel (Holiday Inn) that stays busy/consistent year round. When I am on business trips many times convenience wins the day -- if Tavolo lost those customers with crap service and mediocre food then there are no referrals or colleagues saying "hey lets hit up that place we went to last week"

 

2 hours ago, JoshuaDrown said:

I live in the neighborhood and went with friends, we were all happy to have accessible Italian Uptown, but not so happy to go more than a few times per year. If you simply increase the amount of bodies living in the neighborhood then you exponentially increase the odds for the success of the business.

Sounds like a recipe to support mediocrity...

[JoshuaDrown]

1 hour ago, Scribe said:

Sounds like a recipe to support mediocrity...

Perhaps... perhaps not.

I'm not interested in vouching for Tavolo, I thought both the food and service were good, but I only went twice. I don't know which market conditions led to its closing, but I know which one didn't help: that sea of parking and residential dead zone it sits on the edge of. We all know that north of 6th St there is practically no reason to be walking on College St, and that won't help business until it is resolved. Thankfully Lennar's Market 42 will finally begin to address this and add density to that part of First Ward.

[grodney]

Noooooooo, what happened to Brueggers at Epicentre? It was there Wednesday, but not today. Gone for good? Gut punch.

 

[elrodvt]

I saw Brueggers closed today also! No where to get bagels uptown anymore except 7th street market?

[grodney]

Panera has bagels but they're more like loaf bread....totally wrong consistency.  I didn't know anywhere at 7th St made bagels....who has them?.....probably not open early enough for me anyway.

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

2 hours ago, grodney said:

Noooooooo, what happened to Brueggers at Epicentre? It was there Wednesday, but not today. Gone for good? Gut punch.

 

On the Epicentre's website, the space for Brueggers doesn't say "Available"...it's just gray.  I'm not sure what the cause of this was, but I've talked to a few owners within the Epicentre (Enso being the most recent) and they have talked about the transportation center being a factor, along with rent being extremely expensive, and along with other things.  But I know Dunkin Donuts has bagels next to the CVS on Graham, but that's not really close to the offices.

Edited December 12, 2017 by CharlotteWkndBuzz

[CLT2014]

2 hours ago, grodney said:

Noooooooo, what happened to Brueggers at Epicentre? It was there Wednesday, but not today. Gone for good? Gut punch.

 

Bruegger's closed 30 locations across the country over night due to financial performance.  Bruegger's Bagels is also slated to be acquired by Caribou Coffee (and thus JAB who also owns Einstein Bagels), but the deal has not yet closed with Le Duff Group, so there may be changes in store down the road (like selling Bruegger's Bagels within a Caribou Coffee). 

http://www.wcax.com/content/news/Brueggers-Bagels-closes-30-shops-including-Burlington-463483343.html

Edited December 12, 2017 by CLT2014

[Guest]

1 hour ago, CLT2014 said:

Bruegger's closed 30 locations across the country over night due to financial performance.  Bruegger's Bagels is also slated to be acquired by Caribou Coffee (and thus JAB who also owns Einstein Bagels), but the deal has not yet closed with Le Duff Group, so there may be changes in store down the road (like selling Bruegger's Bagels within a Caribou Coffee). 

http://www.wcax.com/content/news/Brueggers-Bagels-closes-30-shops-including-Burlington-463483343.html

Caribou still has locations???? I thought they went straight retail 

[elrodvt]

2 hours ago, grodney said:

Panera has bagels but they're more like loaf bread....totally wrong consistency.  I didn't know anywhere at 7th St made bagels....who has them?.....probably not open early enough for me anyway.

The bakery and sandwich place in the corner. They make a nice spicy one. Always out later in the day though.

As a VT native sorry to see Bruegger's go.

15 minutes ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

Caribou still has locations???? I thought they went straight retail 

Last I looked there was one in overstreet. But I rarely go in there other than to stay dry walking to CVS or Hornets games.

[SgtCampsalot]

48 minutes ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

Caribou still has locations???? I thought they went straight retail 

 

33 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

The bakery and sandwich place in the corner. They make a nice spicy one. Always out later in the day though.

As a VT native sorry to see Bruegger's go.

Last I looked there was one in overstreet. But I rarely go in there other than to stay dry walking to CVS or Hornets games.

Caribou was bought from its original owners by JAB (funny enough, right after their much-promoted 25th Anniversary), and closed a cool one-third of there stores. The three that remained were Founders Hall, Foxcroft (in South Charlotte), and the one in the CMC hospital campus around Morehead/East Blvd (pretty sure that last one was a private franchise).

I was intimately aware of that process as I was laid off as a result 

Edited December 12, 2017 by SgtCampsalot

[Temeteron]

9 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

 

Caribou was bought from its original owners by JAB (funny enough, right after their much-promoted 25th Anniversary), and closed a cool one-third of there stores. The three that remained were Founders Hall, Foxcroft (in South Charlotte), and the one in the CMC hospital campus around Morehead/East Blvd (pretty sure that last one was a private franchise).

I was intimately aware of that process as I was laid off as a result 

I believe there’s one in park road shopping center still open too

[AppState92]

McDonalds closed in the BB&T section of overstreet mall.  Anyone know what’s taking the spot?  I remember eating breakfast there 23 years ago waiting to go to my first interviews that brought me to Charlotte.  I got to downtown really early so I wouldn’t be late and that was the first place I found, but back then that was about the only place to get breakfast.

[Vitamin_N]

10 hours ago, AppState92 said:

McDonalds closed in the BB&T section of overstreet mall.  Anyone know what’s taking the spot?  I remember eating breakfast there 23 years ago waiting to go to my first interviews that brought me to Charlotte.  I got to downtown really early so I wouldn’t be late and that was the first place I found, but back then that was about the only place to get breakfast.

Interesting... looking at this on google maps, there are no McDonald's from uptown through midtown, Elizabeth, and all the way down Randolph and Providence. Almost every other chain can be found in that area.

[tozmervo]

20 minutes ago, Vitamin_N said:

Interesting... looking at this on google maps, there are no McDonald's from uptown through midtown, Elizabeth, and all the way down Randolph and Providence. Almost every other chain can be found in that area.

I think the location at South Blvd & Poindexter is the closest to Uptown.  But not if you want ice cream, their machine is always down.

[CLT>___]

I hear Sabor is coming to the old Tovolo location. That will be a nice addition to the neighborhood. if this is true.

[Scribe]

16 minutes ago, JSquare said:

if this is true

It is true, Biz Journal and other publications already reporting on it.

[KJHburg]

NoDa's Fud at Salud is closing soon.  https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/01/10/end-of-line-for-noda-restaurant-that-earned-food.html

Healthy Home Market 2 remaining stores too  https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/01/10/healthy-home-market-unable-to-find-buyer-closing.html

Edited January 10, 2018 by KJHburg

[SgtCampsalot]

14 hours ago, KJHburg said:

NoDa's Fud at Salud is closing soon.  https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/01/10/end-of-line-for-noda-restaurant-that-earned-food.html

Healthy Home Market 2 remaining stores too  https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/01/10/healthy-home-market-unable-to-find-buyer-closing.html

Bummer, but I'm glad they are just moving! And a Fud Truck is a great idea.

Tbh, I was real bitter when Salud took away Fud's downstairs dining room. The new upstairs Cerveceria is nice and all, but it's too polished, and it's dark, like a cave. Hard to get comfortable. I miss the downstairs dive.