Beasley’s is closing Jan. 25. Ashley Christensen will not be putting a new restaurant there. Here are the details:
It is with great sadness that we share that Beasley’s will be closing. Our last day of service will be on Sunday, January 25th.
Beasley’s has been an anchor of Downtown Raleigh since it opened in 2011. It was a regular lunch spot for residents and office workers looking for a quick but delicious meal. At night, it would draw in a wide spectrum of locals and visitors and it was a meet up point for annual downtown events like Hopscotch.
In the last few years, we’ve worked hard to make Beasley’s the best version of itself, and I believe we’ve achieved that, thanks to the incredible team we have here. As we approach 15 years in operation, our food is as delicious as ever. But Downtown has evolved in unexpected ways since the pandemic. While we’ve seen encouraging growth, the current Beasley’s model no longer fits into the new landscape.
As an independent operator with three decades in this industry, the last few years have made me re-evaluate the strategy for my company: We’ve been concentrating our focus rather than broadening it. With that in mind, I know that I’m no longer the person to lead a new concept, or even a reimagined version of Beasley’s, in this important anchoring corner at Wilmington and Martin Streets - but I believe someone in our community is, and I’m eager to support them. The building’s landlord, David Meeker, is helping navigate the sale of the business and lease; serious inquiries can be sent to him here. Moving forward, my focus will stay on our two restaurants, Death & Taxes and Poole’s, where I can have the most impact for our team and our city.
Wow, the Ashley Christensen era is truly dwindling!!! I’ve certainly enjoyed Beasley’s the handful of times I’ve eaten there, for sure, and it usually seems busy (if not quite as busy as it used to be) so I’m definitely more surprised by this closure than I was of the piss-poor Chuck’s Hockey Pucks - I mean Burgers!!! Very curious to see what happens on this corner, going forward…
honestly even pooles was very mid last time I went and service was atrocious. I only ever went to beasleys when i had friends or family in town and it was always pretty good
Wow, that is a real shame. Beasley’s is very solid and to me it definitely felt like one of the anchor restaurants in that part of downtown. I’m sorry to see it go. I’ll have to eat there at least once before it closes.
15 years is a good run for a restaurant, but I thought this one had more life in it. Several years ago AC was in expansion mode with like five restaurants and bars plus the crispy chicken fast casual place. Now just down to two.
Huh? Something is up, the passion seems to be gone. I know several of her upper-level chef’s have moved on to their own restaurants (Wilsons, St. Roch, Union Special). I wonder if it’s requiring more of her time in the kitchen. Either way in the last couple years she has said goodbye to Aux Kitchen, Fox’s, Chucks, Poolside Pies, BB’s Chicken and now Beasley’s Chicken.
Yes, this move is very surprising. It is always busy, food is consistently very good to excellent, the service is great. I really am wondering what has happened here.
Who knows what’s going on personally, but I’m guessing on the business side: lower profit margins from inflation on the input side, a menu that appeals more toward lunch than dinner with less lunch customers, and increased competition.
From my point of view, the issue is they’ve had too many ‘off nights’ recently. Hopefully this pullback will help her refocus on what initially made her great.
There have been a lot of places that are downtown adjacent that have opened and they’re really nailing it night in, night out.
Personally I would rather see one or two really stellar places that kill it than just open and close place after place trying to do what?? Make a name for yourself? Try out another menu? The restaurant business is hard enough (from what I hear) without adding in the mix of uncertainty. One of the best places she had was Poole’s Pies IMHO and she closed that sucker right down. Death and Taxes was great the first time we went and only mid the last time but still with a hefty price tag. I am not sure where I am going with this post except to agree that you need to bring your A game if you are expecting people to dine out and pay the price these days. The choices are getting more and the people are getting pickier for good reason.
The food at Beasley’s was fine, I do really miss Pooleside Pies (probably my 2nd favorite pizza in Raleigh after Oakwood). It seems like bad timing: Christensen was in major expansion mode right as the pandemic hit. She had a snafu with staff around that time IIRC, and all of her restaurants were in locations that pretty much relied on exponential growth in the office/residential crowd Downtown that the pandemic and post-pandemic blight kind of slowed. It’s picking up again but now there’s way more competition, and Beasley’s location in particular probably suffered heavily from the issues at the bus station over the years. With BRT construction probably eating up that block for the near future, now’s the time to close it, let someone else get their ducks in order to open something right as BRT is coming online. It’s sad, but I get it.
15 years is a good run but I figured Beasley’s had a longer half-life based on it seeming full more often than not. Heard good things about the flip to more GF focus…..Didn’t realize Meeker was the landlord but that’s now two spots on that strip moving away from previous ‘affordable’ concepts including the artist formerly known as Busy Bee……
As far as AC biz on the whole - talent transition might indeed be a thing….Lauren Ivey left D+T to open Olivero with Sunny down in ILM (delicious!), David Ellis left to open Figulina……Lots of food festivals and fund raising work still seem to fill AC’s schedule. There’s only so much time and team. Probably a worthy reset and refocus.
To that latter point, I recently attended to an AC cooking/appliance demonstration above D&T (Bridge club) and pondered how often she did things like that. I’m sure the day to day ownership/management can slip away easily when there’s lots of other demands outside of the restaurant.
This is a Garner store. Seems like a lot of places are deciding this is the year to call it quits.
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Something definitely happening at 800 N Person, but they’ve got the windows all taped up. There have been work trucks parked out front everyday for the last week or so…
I’ve long wondered what kind of impact it would have to fill that spot. Considering how popular the district already is, with that lot filling up regularly on weekends, even more retail might tip this over to a “why bother trying, we won’t find a spot” kind of situation for drivers.
