I hope you guys get another coffee shop. Glenwood was such a different place with Helios bringing in lunch time drifters to the area. I used to schedule my walks around around certain coffee locations including Helios and the old Benelux. Now all the coffee shops are in the same spot downtown except Videri. Anyway, RE Glenwood I mostly want the combo office/coffee daytime scene to evolve quite a bit more so its not just a night time strip of clubs. The architectural mix is nice, the residential density is really good…just that daytime vibe is missing. Devolve might have survived as a coffee place but had so much capital sunk into clothes and gear the coffee money was never going to pay for that stuff. Anyway again, fingers crossed you guys are the start of filling that activity gap up some more.
Reason why we need thin retail options. I would love to open a pasteis de nata/Portuguese cafe or a Vietnamese coffee shop but either would generate the income needed to afford the rents being asked on Glenwood South district.
The coffee situation in downtown is pretty dire at the moment. Seems we went from having all the coffee shops to having nearly none in quick succession.
A nata and a bica was my breakfast every morning in Portugal. Those things are amazing. Dessert, mid day snack, breakfast…it fits any occasion. FWIW Boulted Bread has them sometimes but they of course don’t position themselves as a pasteleria. I think it’d be a hit on Glenwood and that underused realtor space across Peace from Mojoes seems like a perfect spot. However more, super small retail spaces are definitely needed in the area. North Street Beer Station and Clockwork do well in their small spaces as examples.
I mean, there is 42nd and Lawrence and Sir Walter but I don’t care for either. There is a massive bottleneck at Morning Times caused by one slow employee who they’ll never get rid of so I end up at Lucette Grace 99% of the time even though coffee drinks are just a side show for them.
As much as I love Boulted Bread I don’t have the heart to tell them how horribly wrong their attempt at pasteis de nata is.
There’s the Tea place, Tama or something, on Fayetteville , Starbucks (meh) and just outside of downtown Cold Off the Press on South (juice and cold brew… maybe real coffee idk) and Boulted but it does seem like we could use some more…
Morning Times must be particularly busy these days as a result of the growing coffee desert.
If you’ve never heard the Austin Lounge Lizards “Acid Rain” check them out:
I can confirm Cold Off the Press does have real coffee!
I haven’t been yet, but there’s also Heirloom (tea, coffee, sake, etc.) in the Dillon.
Morning Times is the best one in town, which isn’t saying much. I go there every morning and I’m usually in and out in under 5 minutes, so I don’t know which employee @Mark is referring to.
Sir Walter has good coffee but it’s overpriced and I get the snooty hipster vibe from the baristas when I walk in there.
Haven’t tried 42 & Lawrence. Starbucks is Starbucks, though I’m surprised there’s only the Marriott and Peace locations in downtown and vicinity.
What downtown needs is a Caribou.
What about Heirloom? They seem to have pretty fancy coffee and tea
Heirloom is great and a very hip/cool addition to the downtown beverage options. I know the owner (not like best friends) and Chuan is a great guy and I wish them all the success. I think they have a good thing going at a great time in Raleigh’s growth.
I don’t drink coffee, but my wife really enjoys Benchwarmers coffee in the Transfer CO.
Budacai is open in the old Provenance space. The focus is on boba tea, but the menu had coffee and latte options. Haven’t been yet, but the menu seems promising.
Thank you for starting this. I completely agree. Glenwood is certainly lacking in the coffee department. Too bad cornerstone took 3 of the old houses… that could make for a nice coffee shop. I also think The Parliament would be a beautiful french coffee shop! Its a beautiful space and the small balcony would be nice to sit out on and have a latte or two. Maybe someone will bring something in to the north end of west street. That is going to be such a great area! So excited for The Rainbow Luncheonette!!
And it really is too bad about Devolve. Because they did such a great job with that space. If it was 80% bike coffee/bar and 20% retail…we would probably still see it today. I loved going in there in the mornings and grabbing coffee walking around and sitting next to the open doors!
Its a little too Pinterest/Insta for me in there. Like If I don’t actually have some work to do on my brand new Mac or a well manicured friend to talk to, I maybe shouldn’t be in there. I am a little on the unwashed side and like to just space out with a drink steaming in front of me. But I’m glad it’s that all the same. They are obviously doing well.
If the city ordinance weren’t so strict a mobile cafe would work on Glenwood.
Are you familiar with Cup of Jane?
I’m here now. It’s basically a more mature Kaiju (now defunct), they serve bao as well. Plus coffee and tea.