We had dinner at Tazza in the Village District on Saturday and I made a joke that there was probably a line at the new Shake Shack. We went by and sure enough, there was a line out the door. Strange thing to line up for in my opinion.
Glad you get to be open in the original spot a little longer. When do you guys officially close do you think?
The restaurant at the top of the Dillon is coming along nicely inside and looks good. I didn’t get a pic because there were people inside looking at me, and that seemed pretty rude to be snapping pics of them. This is the outside.
Also, the Vic’s Pizza next to Dram and Draught has a sign up and looks to be moving along well inside. People actively working on it, and from what I could tell driving by, it’s looking nice. I think the duo of them and D&D right there are gonna kill it.
Edit. Oh yeah, and Incendiary Brewing right there too. With First Watch for breakfast, I could spend the whole day in that spot. Might need to take a nap at The Casso hotel, though, afterwards…
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Clyde Coopers is leaving downtown. Said business is fine, but crime and general sentiment of downtown is bad. Didn’t mention any potential locations.
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She said she wants “somewhere that’s got plenty of parking and a lot of things that are exciting.”
I’ll add my 2 cents here. I’ve never had anything other than good food or good service from Clyde Coopers.
However, they do often get in your face about politics. I’ve frequently seen signs saying to recall MAB in their store window and feel that they often side with the Livable Raleigh crowd when it comes to politics.
So, while I can see how many might feel that this is a bad thing, I think that their business is just not a good fit for the vision we all have for downtown. I will not be surprised to see this come up from Livable Raleigh either.
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Can’t blame them. Somebody’s got to figure out how to revive downtown. In all honesty it sucks. I haven’t had any deisre to go downtown in years. Actually not since the riots. I go to places on the outskirts of downtown, but rarely do I venture into the core. Overpriced mediocre restaurants just don’t have the appeal they once had. Unfortunately outside of restaurants and bars downtown just doesn’t have much going on.
They honestly don’t seem to know what they want. They complained massively when they had to move. First the apartments were too tall, then not tall enough, and they bemoaned the historic spot being lost but then loved having a new location that wasn’t falling apart. But they moved into a parking deck essentially, never seemed to be open for dinner, and didn’t take cards (that may have changed). The Livable Raleigh/Recall MAB stuff doesn’t surprise me. They seemed to have a lot of politics and griping. I’ve honestly never even been there in the 14 years I’ve lived in Raleigh because it’s been too inconvenient and there’s just better places I’d rather go to. If they don’t want to be downtown anymore, I say good riddance, and wish them well wherever they go.
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A score of conservative boomer shop owners have basically left downtown Raleigh. Maybe it’s for the best in the future.
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Used to get takeout on occasion years ago but quit spending money there when she started wearing her local politics on her sleeve.
Was actually the opposite cash policy. Nothing but until recently when the in-store ATM was replaced with a credit/debit card acceptance policy.
Clyde Coopers is fine, but for my money I’d rather eat Old Time Barbecue out Hillsborough St. I’d hit Coopers from time to time because they were downtown, but now they’re giving me no reason to patronize them again.
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Yeah, Coopers was also just fine for me. They honestly just didn’t change with the times so perhaps they are feeling left out.
They seemed to cater to mostly a lunch crowd from the 1990s era. They have (well had) an opportunity now, I think, to be a casual dinner spot for the rising downtown resident population, just need some small changes to the menu but I’ve never seen them try that. You’d think with their history they would be sought out easily by visitors too but guess not.
To me, the crime issue can be turned around so that doesn’t seem like they are clearly thinking long-term.
Downtown is going through a sort right now though as our daytime worker schedules are less predictable. Over time, it’ll settle down. Good luck to them.
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Sorry, I mistyped; meant they didn’t take cards. I fixed my post.
Karla and I would SOOOO stop in to say hi but since we’re out of town for a while, booooo. Take care Alex and we’ll see you on Dawson when we get back! I hope Bingo will still be on for Mondays!
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For 8 bucks, I can go to CookOut for take-out Q with a giant sweet tea. For my money, it’s better than double that price for Coopers.
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A real shame that they’re moving out. The influx of barbecue to the downtown area at least means there are still options. But losing downtown staple of 70+ years is a bad look for that area of downtown. Maybe they’ll just move to the west side of downtown where the vibes are much better!
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This reminds me of when Brigg’s Hardware said it was moving out of downtown. I wonder how that ended up.
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It’s a downtown institution with ok barbecue. Oh well
There are so many complaints about (the “lack of”) parking in their comments to N&O and WRAL!! I don’t get it—we live literally right above it and there is truly so much parking. Street parking, multiple parking garages, paid lots—this is not a part of DTR that’s lacking in parking spots. 
https://www.newsobserver.com/living/food-drink/article281810503.html
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Cookout even better than the Pit imo. Do like Sam Jones but I’ve always been used to decent cheap bbq.
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It’s day to day at this point. Maybe another week or so before our contractor returns to finish tear out of the bar. We are def done at that point and ready to start working on the new space. Thanks for asking.
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