All posts in category Business

A world on Franklin Street

Poor, beleaguered Franklin Street. First, people complain that it has too many empty storefronts. And then once the spaces begin to fill up, the whinging starts that the businesses aren’t the right kind. Too many restaurants, bars and Carolina souvenir shops, they say. Some long for an independent bookstore; Chancellor Thorp yearns for a Barnes […]

The Chocolate Door

What follows is, for all practical purposes, an endorsement, if not an out-and-out advertisement. My daughter started an internship at The Chocolate Door yesterday. Brainy and beautiful – and I should know, I’m her mother – my daughter is also bookish and reserved. She tends to speak with her eyes more than her vocal chords. […]

The Courtyard

Much was made, when Walgreen proposed building a drugstore at one of Chapel Hill’s most prominent intersections, of preserving the charm of our fair village. And the Walgreen team did a beautiful job – two stories, skylights, green features, trees to hide the loading docks. So why, then, has The Courtyard renovation team gone to […]

Gone with the pig

The Barbecue Joint is locked down, and a great big “Closed” sign is taped to the glass door at the entrance. The yellow notice from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office pasted beside the “Closed” sign forbids anyone from entering the building. The Joint’s Facebook page hasn’t been updated since mid March. And the huge catering […]

Buy local?

If “location, location, location” drives demand in the real estate market, why are businesses leaving Meadowmont at the same time commercial space at East 54, just across the highway, is filling up? Both are conveniently located on the N.C. 54 corridor, each about the same distance from Chapel Hill and the I-40 exit. Both have […]

Skate with less peril

At the Chapel Hill skate park on Tuesday afternoon, X marked the spots where repairs were needed. And there were an awful lot of X’s. The painters were applying a fresh coat to the concrete shelter where the shop and bathrooms are. But the most important work at the 10,000-square-foot park off Homestead Road was […]