General Retail/Restaurant News

You can bring your own bottle there and pay a $20 corkage fee. We did that on Sunday night when we bought their $24 royale with cheese.

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Rhino Market is quite popular here in Charlotte with multiple locations but it is different from Common Market also from the QC
https://rhinomarket.com/

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We don’t need mini-franchises from Charlotte teaching us how to run a proper bodega. The solution is obvious. Rebus Works should open a Mordecai branch. #KeepRaleighWeird

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I wish I could understand many users on here fascination with “bodegas” downtown.
It seems like the best impact for downtown retail of a multi-purpose store variety would be more of the chain miscellaneous retail like small-format Target or Walmart Neighborhood Market, or drug store chains like CVS/Walgreens.

I’m not going to Taz unless I’m certain not to be the next stabbing victim there. And I see no appeal to walk to a neighborhood postage-stamp-sized store with random small selection of overpriced shaving cream, cigarettes, homemade meatballs cooking in the back, and a mangy cat walking on the counters by the cash register…which is my image of a northern big-city “bodega” that has been resurrected in Raleigh.

Far more people would benefit and shop at a larger, cleaner, brightly lit, safer neighborhood destination retail store with enough parking for the retail to not be 100% dependent on walking traffic. Lack of convenient parking nearby will limit success of any bigger format stores, or limit them to aging retail strips like where Alamo is, relatively outside of downtown…

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I had heard that the DGX shop was one of the highest-grossing locations for Dollar General up until the riots burned it down and the subsequent economic turmoil afterward. It didn’t fail because of a lack of sales. If you went in there, they usually had a lot of business and long lines.

The reason it failed, primarily, was theft. Dollar Generals typically operate under a skeleton crew, and they cannot deter theft. So, to say that a bodega needs parking to succeed isn’t really accurate. DGX was successful until they weren’t.

I think a corner store in that location that doesn’t focus on small indulgences like candy, cigarettes, and single-can alcohol would be highly successful. It has a built-in customer base in the 3 apartment buildings and 2 condos close by. Who needs parking spots with that?

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While not downtown… I have been lobbying hard for a small 7-11 type convivence store in Wade Park. There are currently 5 office buildings, many apartment buildings, and at one time a planned 7 story hotel that was never built. Also, tons of people tailgate/pregame in Wade Park before NCSU and Canes games, so a corner store would make a killing on game days. All we have in my office (less than a full floor of one of the previously mentioned buildings) of 250/300 (if ppls actually show up…) is a single vending machine that is usually half empty and frequently eats your money. Our alternative is to get into a car and drive to Sheetz. I WISH we had a small “corner store” we could take a 10 minute break and walk to from the office. In general Sprawleighwood has a severe lack of “corner stores” and folks are forced to drive to big box chain drug stores or grocery stores to satisfy the daily coke/chips/cigarette/Tylenol runs that the local minimart could easily address (and maybe give us fat guys a little exercise to boot :hiking_boot: ).

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I suppose it’s too much to hope that people could cut back on soda, chips, and cigarettes?
Also you can buy larger bottles of Tylenol :grin:

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My ulterior motive is to shut down Wade Park Cafe. That place SUX!!! :stuck_out_tongue:

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Despite living here 11 years, the only time I went was the day I moved in because I had the day off and needed a close lunch while I dealt with stuff. I wish they’d make a neighborhood coffee shop. Something like Sirwal would clean up here. Coffee and snacks during the day, bar at night.

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When we moved from Morrisville we were all excited to be a walkable area, rather than the sea of office park in Morrisville. We tried Wade Park Cafe a handful of times. Now we only go to Bru’s, and I only go when work is paying :wink: It is an improvement from Morrishell, but still leaves a lot to desire for car-lite (during the work day) options.

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Here’s hoping the Tom Dundon/Lenovo Center mixed-use entertainment district has everything everyone could ever want! :crossed_fingers:

Wade Park Cafe might not be your favorite, but if it closed, there is no guarantee that anything would replace it. Think of all the empty ground floor retail in Raleigh…

Found this in the council agenda for Tuesday. I’m glad that people are interested in opening something up in the Cafe space in Moore Square.

On April 9, 2024, a solicitation was advertised for proposals to operate a restaurant/café for the café space at Moore Square. Nine proposals were received and evaluated by a review committee, consisting of four City staff and one external partner from the Downtown Raleigh Alliance.

The review committee recommends the selection of Lucky Pie Gallery, LLC to operate the café at Moore Square under a license agreement coordinated by the City Attorney’s Office. Additionally, Lucky Pie Gallery, LLC is willing to cost share the necessary building upfit improvement equally, with the City contributing $67,500 toward the upfit costs and Lucky Pie Gallery, LLC also contributing the same $67,500 to the building upfit costs.

https://go.boarddocs.com/nc/raleigh/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DAGND55F5EC8

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Totally agree. They have soggy, bland sandwiches and wraps. Not to mention horrible drip coffee for a cafe.

Also - I was, unfortunately, very unwhelemed by The Local (re done Backyard Bistro). They basically just threw some gambling signage up and painted everything gray and white. Zero character to the place. The food is actually decent, but the place couldn’t be more vanilla.

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IF this is the same folks as across from Meredith, this should be a welcome addition to Moore Square…Hope it takes off for them !

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It is indeed! This will be a nice spot, hope they succeed with it.

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What if it’s just a gallery of pie paintings??
:pie:

I wonder if this is a completely new business, or something with an existing presence. I know people on here have a lot of opinions about pizza (most of which are wrong).

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I agree! I told the bar tender that place should scream Canes hangout! He did say they would be open after every Canes game, which is a plus; especially, the Sunday games when they were usually closed.

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Ugh. This was my worry for the Local. It wasn’t closed long at all - and each of the Instagram reels I’ve seen made it look like they just painted everything gray. With how large the parking area is between it and the hotel behind it, was really hoping for a full scale renovation/addition.

I guess all of the 2009-era NCSU and Canes stuff finally came down though. Lots of the art/pictures in there were incredibly dated.

End of an era

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The shoplifters really were thorough!

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