Krispy Kreme closed its Franklin Street shop earlier this month after less than 5 years. A few doors away, Cold Stone shut down two months earlier. Farther west along Franklin, GiGi’s Cupcakes left town at the end of last year. But locally owned Sugarland still plies its pastries and gelato after nigh on eight years. […]
All posts in category Business
Aspiring to be what we’re not?
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 25, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/05/25/aspiring-to-be-what-were-not/
Is Southpoint our hero?
I write a business column for a print publication in which I report on new businesses coming to town and those that leave. For the most recent issue, I had to dance around a bit, because the only business news I could dig up was businesses that had closed downtown. Gigi’s Cupcakes; Caribou Coffee; Top […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 9, 2015
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/02/09/is-southpoint-our-hero/
Which workforce?
In an email to Town Council last month, Lee Perry, a principal of East West Partners, referred to Village Plaza Apartments as “workforce housing.” Perry, whose company is building the 266-unit apartment building in the vacant lot that used to be the site of a movie theater, explained that his rents, starting at $1,150 a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 17, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/11/17/which-workforce/
Insurers hold cards
Don and I received an extortion letter last month. It came from our insurance company. If we did not sign a letter authorizing the company to increase our homeowners’ insurance premium by as much as 250 percent, the company would not renew our coverage. And if our insurance lapsed, our lender could call in our […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 10, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/11/10/insurers-hold-cards/
Is the thrill gone?
I had a conversation not long ago with a musician, a mixed-race man in his mid-20s working a day job unrelated to music as he got his career started. At one point he asked where I was from, and I told him I lived in Chapel Hill. His eyes lit up. “I call it Chapel […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 23, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/06/23/is-the-thrill-gone/
Downtown, no waiting
Chapel Hill didn’t make GQ’s list of Best College Towns (When Students Are Gone) as Durham did, but we’ve got plenty going on all summer long – including at least one spot that wasn’t here before students took off for their summer adventures. Opening a new business just as a third of your customer base […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 9, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/06/09/downtown-no-waiting/
Get it right first
UNC researcher and Chapel Hill native David Schwartz turns his analytical eye toward some of the factors that may be fueling our mayor’s apparent urgency to approve Form-Based Code initially in the Ephesus-Fordham area. Schwartz realizes there is more going on with the Ephesus-Fordham issue than simply the mayor wanting to impress his colleagues in […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 12, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/05/12/get-it-right-first/
Hometown brand
Driving home from Raleigh one spring night with my car windows rolled down, I stopped at a traffic light. A car pulled up beside me, and the driver hollered out, “You must be going to Chapel Hill. I can tell by your bumper stickers.” Chapel Hill used to be known as an enclave for liberals: […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 7, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/04/07/hometown-brand/
Snow day
“Work from home,” Gov. Pat McCrory told North Carolinians, in a well-meaning entreaty to keep people from traveling on icy roads last week. And the governor and I did work from home, and maybe you did, too. But what about the people who work at grocery stores or fast-food places or who rely on tips […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 17, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/02/17/snow-day/
Be our guest
Business investors have figured it out before some of the rest of us: Chapel Hill is a nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live here. When Town Council meets next on Wednesday (the regular Monday night meeting has been shifted due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday), members will consider a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 20, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/01/20/1722/