Oh with the AI advertising I’m sure this place is going to be fantastic.
1 Like
Intrigued by this. I think high quality sandwich spots are probably the biggest food gap in Raleigh
10 Likes
What about:
- Sosta
- Carroll’s Kitchen
- Manhattan Cafe
- PrimoHoagies
- Ish (RIP
) - Union Station Deli
- Alimentari
- Side Street
- State of Beer
- Berkeley Cafe
The first four are all on/right next to Fayetteville St. Now, that said, I’ll probably try this place out because I clearly like sandwiches a lot, but I feel like good sandwiches are probably the easiest thing to find in downtown.
Bistro 401 was fine, some of my coworkers became regulars there. It wasn’t really my favorite, I liked all of the above more as cheaper and/or better options.
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Oakwood Deli as well. I like most of those places, though not sure I’d classify some of them as “sandwich” specific. I was coming more from the perspective that our best sandwich places are not as good as other towns or other food genres here locally.
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These restaurants could activate the core of Raleigh and Fayetteville Street.
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Manhattan Cafe is under appreciated. Great food and good for morning and lunch-time grub!
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really like Oakwood Deli, but their sanitation scores need to get it together especially for a place that serves cold sandwiches. went from 95, 86, 92, to 90.
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TBJ reports that Highwoods continues to innovate in making DTR duller! A bank branch (Wells, in the green 150 Fayetteville building, the side of the building facing Hargett) wasn’t dull enough, so it’ll be replaced with… a rec room for lawyers to use very occasionally.
I’m understand why 5-story apartment buildings often have amenity spaces at grade on side streets – there’s no retail demand from either passerby or upstairs, and a fitness room is something that people will use 7 days a week. But c’mon, this building is 10X denser than that (5X taller, offices are 2X denser than residential), Hargett is DTR’s second-best retail street, and surely there’s some other space you could find for that – like the entirely empty second floor.
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As I just said yesterday… Raleigh is just not a premier, BIG LEAGUE city. This continued boring bullshit is just a small fraction of that.
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It needs a big brand that believes in it. A city of auxiliary branches and bargain bin architecture is a city that tells people “nobody actually WANTS to be here; we’re just here to make a quick buck and leave”.
It’s the 2nd largest city in the 9th largest state though. That vibe was… understandable in the 80s but it’s unacceptable now.
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If the population growth continues for the next 5 years the way it has for the past 5, we could be 7th by the next census.
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If the numbers and growth percentages remain constant and are confirmed by the next Census, 8th by the next Census is totally doable, and 7th probably comes mid decade.
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In my opinion Fayetteville Street suffers from larger problem that afflicts a lot of DTR; the marketing mix is all hyper-local, niche retail that does not cater to the wider, general population.
Sure it has deep appeal, but only to a small subset of the retail market. There’s long been a fear of Raleigh “selling out”, but that’s where the crowds are.
I love our local businesses and they need our support too, but DRA and others need to attract recognizable brands that consumers are comfortable with in order to draw people into downtown.
Fayetteville Street is being re-branded as North Carolina’s Main Street. Great! How about a Bojangles franchise?
Ending work from home would help too but that’s a different hot take!
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I think that you have hit on something here. It would be really cool to have Fayetteville filled with NC Brands!
Also, I’ve learned from Miami Beach that you need day-to-day retail and dining, and not just shopping and dining worthy of being downtown. Very few people actually live like the ideal vision.
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Agreed - DTR needs more “everyday” stores and businesses. Boutique, high end, and bougie local places are great, but need to be complemented with day to day retail.
Where is the Bojangles, the CVS, the corner bodega, the diner, Ace hardware, cook-out, general / convenience store, Dunkin, grocery store, dollar store, etc?
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Once upon a time, Fayetteville St had both CVS and Chik-Fil-A! The former was simply NEVER OPEN at any normal, convenient hours. And the Chik-Fil-A… unsure how that wasn’t a slam-dunk but it was in the Sir Walter building which uhhhhhh yeah
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1 individual Target would increase downtown foot traffic more than a new convention center.
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Using South Beach as an example, and given its own brand, I think that most would be surprised to learn that it has:
- 3 Ross Dress for Less
- TJ Maxx
- Marshall’s
- Burlington Coat Factory
- Best Buy
- Ace Hardware
- Taco Bell
- 2 McDonald’s
- Denny’s
- Popeye’s
- Raising Canes
- Five Guys
- Several CVS & Walgreens stores
- Target
- 7-11
- Papa John’s
- Pollo Tropical (if you know, you know)
- Shake Shack
Yes it also has a ton of usual mall stores like Macy’s, H&M, Zara, Apple, Nike, Gap, etc., and it has all sorts of high-end specialty stores as well, but it also has places to fix your bike, buy a mattress, get your clothes tailored, shoes re-soled, keys made, your oil changed, do your banking, get a tooth filled, etc.
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Probably tough to persuade a name-brand franchise to locate on Fayetteville (or nearby) due to high rent, low foot traffic, and parking concerns.
However the conventioneers, in particular, might be more easily encouraged to explore the area if there were some recognizable destinations with familiar goods and services. They then might also be more likely to try the independent vendors amongst them.
Once a few pioneers succeeded others would follow.
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Yeah, if we try really hard and get our big boy city knickers on we can someday be just like Dallas or Houston.
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