This is exactly why Fluevog is my absolute favorite brand of shoe which in turn explains why Firefly is my absolute favorite shoe store ever…  Well, that and its awesome owner, Ashley, who I’ll say again is one of the best local proprietors I know.

A couple of weeks ago, Ashley put out a call to local Fluevog owners to seek out “vintage” Fluevogs to display at a month-long exhibit in the store.  I, of course, couldn’t resist contacting her about it.  But, rather than displaying my oldest pair, we agreed it might be funnier if we displayed all of them…  all 11 pairs of Fluevogs I own, all of which remain in active duty.

So, I loaded up a large suitcase this morning and dropped them by the store.  I kinda felt like a parent leaving his children at school for the first time… is that weird?  

Firefly

Anyway, if you want to check out my collection and laugh at my expense (don’t worry, I laugh too), or if you would like to see some really, really cool vintage Fluevogs on loan from cool people around the Triangle, be sure to stop by the store between today and the 30th.  The opening reception is tonight from 6pm-10pm and all new Fluevogs will be discounted 20% to celebrate the occasion!  (Wonder if I’ll buy any… hrmmmm…) If you can’t make it tonight, the sale will continue all weekend.

Perhaps I’ll see you there?  I’ll be the guy not wearing Fluevogs. 

Many of our readers (and Raleighing.com bloggers) have been curious about what’s been happening to Capital City Grocery in the downtown Raleigh Seaboard Station shopping center. One of the downtown area’s only independently-owned grocery stores, Capital City Grocery opened last year and then closed this spring when the business went heavily into debt.

Despite a shaky start and temporary closing for renovations and reorganization, the future now looks bright, with a grand reopening scheduled sometime in June.

Originally charged with finding new investors, Ed Weems and son Mason of Venture Management, Inc., ended up becoming part owners along with other investors. They plan on a grand reopening sometime in June.

The original owners and management will no longer be involved with the new store.

To revise the store philosophy, Weems is working with the Newton family—who owned and ran several downtown stores for 70 years—to devise a sort of mission statement for the grocery store, which begins with a promise of superior service to its customers. They also plan to pay homage to the

Newtons by decorating the store walls with photographs of the Newton family, their stores, and customers.  In 1937, Ela Newton began selling snacks in downtown Raleigh in the same neighborhood as Capital City Grocery. While the offerings were limited she provided the residents of then-dirt Halifax Street with what they wanted. As her customer needs changed her selections expanded and her husband John William, a retired farmer, began helping her serve them. Over the years the store expanded into four Halifax street locations. Soon sons, grandsons and granddaughters were all working there while attending high school and college.

For 63 years Newton’s provided basic grocery items, custom-cut meats and fresh vegetables. Grocery deliveries were made first on bicycles then scooters and finally in pick up trucks. Starting with rotisserie chicken, the Newton

family responded to customer wants by serving meals in the store and providing take home food. Customers from all walks of life were each given the same friendly courteous service and became regulars for years. This tradition continued until the last location at Peace and Halifax streets was sold to Peace College in recent years.

At Capital City Grocery, they are returning to that original focus on the customers in the downtown Raleigh market area. Plans include expanding produce offerings with an emphasis on locally grown and especially organic vegetables. Like Newton’s, they will offer custom cut high-end meats and very fresh seafood as well as items already prepared for those in a hurry.

The new Capital City Grocery is reaching out to the community and once again asking the local residents of downtown Raleigh what they want their store to offer, look like, act like, and feel like. They are committed to returning to the Newton family grocery store philosophy of good old-fashioned customer service.

The Capital City grocery section is being redesigned to carry dry goods, bulk foods, the spices and flavorings even the best cooks strive for, and a “It Begins With Caring” healthy foods section for pets. To the wine offerings they’re adding fresh flowers and gift baskets. Once again many products are local and organic just like the customers asked for in the past.

The “Capital City Kitchen”, like Newton’s, is offering sit down fare as well as full course meals to take home and enjoy with little effort. They’re also adding a new important convenience that is fully in tune with the downtown Raleigh
market. Full catering for private parties and business events is being offered under the leadership of a highly experienced trained Chef.

Capital City Grocery is also offering the same 70-year old Newton tradition of call-in ordering. But rather than speaking slowly as a Newton family member wrote each item down, shoppers will be able to place orders over the internet or by faxing them in. Repeat customers will be also able to pull up their record of regular purchases on their website and indicate how many of each they want to reorder.

Seventy years ago the residents of Raleigh were downtown. Today they’re returning again. Just like Newton’s, the new Capital City Grocery promises a commitment to meeting their neighbors’ needs.

article © 2007 Downtown Raleigh Publishing LLC
reprinted with permission

Cherry is a full service home furnishings and accessories store that specializes in modern Italian furniture, but has a large array of accents to give your home a modern makeover as well. You can find rugs, light fixtures, unique hand blown glass pieces, tableware, barware, and numerous other home accessories as well.

Some well known brands at Cherry include Rosenthal tableware and serving pieces, Nambi metalware, and Michael Graves designed pieces. For many of the lines, the store is the only authorized retailer in the state.

Cherry is the brainchild and namesake of Louis Cherry and his wife Ann Marie Baum. The husband and wife team saw a real void in the Triangle for contemporary and modern design and decided to do something about it. The day to day operation of the store is directed by Mrs. Baum. With her background in interior design and retail management, she is perfectly suited to help all their clients find the perfect look for their homes.

Cherry is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. It is open on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. A grand opening celebration is planned for late April.

They have moved into the Glenwood South space formerly occupied by Wag, right next door to my favorite shoe store in the world: Firefly.  And in perfect neighborly fashion, the folks at Firefly will be adding to the celebration by having snacks and beverages and staying open until 10pm as well.  Be sure to stop in to see Ashley as she continues to be among the best proprietors I have ever met.  Plus, she carries amazing stuff.  Take a break from buying your icky Payless shoes and express yourself with some unique kicks.

The “official” afterparty for the FM grand opening will be at Mosquito from 10pm to 2am with music provided by The Remix Project (Watch out: this is a MySpace page with music) as well as DJ Merlin and DJ Mooney.  I won’t be at this part of the celebration, but I’m sure it will be fun for those of you into that sort of thing!  Enjoy!

I honestly believe that this will save OTB trips to Lowes and Home Depot and will serve as a boom to downtown residents to be within a few blocks of hardware (Sorry Briggs, but you moved and have limited weekend hours which tends to hinder weekend warriors).  I also believe that many of the items that are on my Tar-ghay list can now be purchased at Ace – whoda thunk it? I’ve heard there will be a grand opening towards the end of April and the opening of a garden center for both plants and rentals/equipment. Plus, they have free popcorn and a really cool vintage truck wrapped with a Seaboard Ace advertisement. If you haven’t been there yet, I strongly encourage you to stop by.

Personally, I am not too surprised by this as TTC just hasn’t become the kind of mall I had hoped it would be. When a mall visit is in order after exhausting my favorite local retailers, I am definitely among the droves of Raleigh residents who either hit Crabtree (due to its proximity) or make the trek over to The Streets of Southpoint in Durham. Many will go on about the demographics of the such-and-such mile radius around the North Raleigh mall, but I don’t think that’s it at all. I mean, come on, they pretty much have all those who have moved up to the Wake Forest area as a captive audience. And one drive around that formerly sleepy little town will quickly reveal there is a whole bunch of money to be spent… unless everyone is house-poor or something. Anyway, my opinion is that the TTC folks immediately shot themselves in the foot before even clearing the first tree from the property. The design of the mall is as bland and energy-sucking as I have ever seen. Not only is the whole dang thing beige inside and out, but the 2^nd floor is carpeted which turns the already spooky-empty ambience and deadens it completely.

What’s funny is that every time I’ve been in Saks, you’d think the mall is rather bustling. The place is vibrant and there always seems to be clientele in there. But as soon as you step out of Saks into the mall… poof! It’s all gone. I’ve talked to many a person who freely admits to shopping in Saks but never venturing into the mall itself.

The outside shopping area is nice and I think a few along that corridor are pulling their weight as well. If the developers had taken one hint alone from Southpoint, they would have built this part of the mall first, made it much more interesting than just a simple straight shot, and varied the offerings out there a lot more.

Anyway, this really wasn’t supposed to turn into an evaluation of TTC. That’s a much longer article that needs quite a bit more fleshing out of these opinions with more constructive recommendations. Hrmmmmm, maybe that’ll be coming soon.

map it

So, let me first say that I like the design of Lafayette Village.  The drawings certainly give the impression of a quaintness which has not been achieved by North Hills.  And, it appears the designers have taken a cue from North Hills by putting a majority of the parking underneath the shopping center, out of the view of drivers-by.  Concept alone, I like it.

But, I have a hard time believing that a boutique-focused center will work at that location.  Even the highly-lauded North Hills still has many spaces left empty.  Obviously, Lafayette Village will have much lower lease rates, but the area around that location has not proven to be ridiculously successful for that format.  Scout and Mollys and Cravings have both experienced much more success after moving out of Falls Village and into North Hills.  Just up the road in Falls Pointe Shopping Center, boutiques like Tres Belle seemed to have a nice run, but just couldn’t quite pull it off.  Remove any sort of anchor (like North Hills’ Target and the movie theatre) and I wonder if a boutique-only center can survive in that area.

Hopefully, it will be a successful venture.  There is certainly enough disposable income in that area.  But, what will be interesting to see is if folks in that area will be willing to spend their big money in a center in that location or if they will continue to drive to North Hills, Cameron Village, Saks (not the rest of TTC though!), and Southpoint due to the validation factor…

Hrmmmm, who knows?  I wouldn’t put my own money into Lafayette Village, but then again I am not sure I’d bet against it either.  Either way, go ahead and chalk up another loss for the trees of North Raleigh.  They seem to lose no matter what… 

The developers tell us they are expecting a late 2007 early 2008 completion date.  Now, if recent development in Raleigh is used as a gauge, I’d bet no earlier than late 2008… if then….

map it

map it

Ever since Lord & Taylor pulled out of the South, and thus Crabtree, many theories have swirled about how Crabtree will fill the two-story anchor space. We’ve reported the rumor of Bloomingdale’s possibly filling the space, and discussed plans to change the space into additional ordinary mall space. Renderings of that plan are still online.

One of our readers, however, insists that Hudson Belk is going to move their Men’s Department to at least some of the old L&T space. While this is a sad scenario, it is plausible. The space is a relatively small space for a major anchor, however the entire ground floor is slightly larger than the collective men’s departments at Hudson Belk. Given the bludgeoning that brick-and-mortar retailing is receiving from internet competition, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Crabtree have/choose to stick with one of their tried and true, original tenants. The second story could be developed into more mall space, a new food court, or whatever.