Something’s Finally Brewing at Capital City Grocery Space

Capital City Grocery re-opened back in July of 2007 to the love of many downtowners. It was local, it was quaint, but it was also doomed.

It celebrated it’s one year anniversary the next July and hosted lots of live music events along the way. Sadly, after a bunch of controversy and questions regarding the future of the grocer, Capital City closed its doors in November of 2008.

Rumors have been flying ever since, but the word was quiet on what would actually go in the space. Another grocery store being the biggest of the rumors?

An availability sign has been up in the window since its closing date and most of the windows/doors had the snow-esque spray covering them. But, just recently, the snow has defrosted and the windows are now nice and clear. Inside there is evidence that most of the space has been cleared of all existing shelves and grocery store machinery. Architectural plans are laying on the former coffee bar and it looks like a fit-up may be in the near future of the space.

Maybe it’s the owners of the building sprucing it up for selling or maybe there is a potential tenant. With the architectural plans hanging around, it seems something’s brewing. What could it be? With all the grocery store machinery and deli counter gone, it seems that the program of the space will change. Unless they were sold to pay back debt. In that case, the new tenant would add their own. We shall see….....

Bill07/24 07:58 AM

Roller rink!

hackles1007/24 09:36 AM

It does have a roller rink look to it when empty! As long as they serve sodas with old school roller rink ice, im ok with it!

oakcity07/24 09:40 AM

what i really wish would go in there is someplace that specializes in meat and fish.

a butcher shop/fishmonger.

raleigh needs a REAL butcher shop damnit!

Marcus07/24 09:42 AM

Even if this grocery store had worked, it would not have satisfied the need of a downtown grocery store. We need something in the heart of downtown: City Market, Wilmington St., Fayetteville St. or Salisbury Street. Then it has a chance of surviving on not just residents and people who like downtown, but people in the office buildings nearby who would stop at the grocery between work and their car in the parking garage because it was more convenient than stopping at a grocery store on the way home.

OrangeRaleigh07/24 09:50 AM

I just moved downtown last week (Yeah!) and I was talking with Taz the other day. He told me that he already has a spot lined up and he’s opening a butcher shop/deli in downtown in the next few months. I guess if you combine all his little shops, it’s almost like having one extremely overpriced supermarket all in downtown!

hackles1007/24 10:12 AM

In St. Louis they had a great downtown grocer, City Grocery. It was two stories, plenty of fresh items at a centrally located deli counter, solid baked goods, and all of the basic dry/frozen goods. Decent beer and wine selection as well. They also had a strong lunch sandwich business, with a cool upsairs seeting section with an urban feel.

Its basically exactly what we need in downtown raleigh!

sarah emily07/24 01:14 PM

I think it’s all the roller derby hype, but I also thought roller rink when I saw the opening photo. A Pool Hall would be nice for this space, a place with bike racks out front and a killer sound system and/or juke box. Then some kitschy food/beer offering like tasty paninis + peronis + pool. Sounds like a nice combo to me.

rdugirl07/24 01:33 PM

I had heard that the guy who owns Boylan heights brewary was opening a pub in this space??

Bounce, skate07/24 02:29 PM

A roller rink there would make my life + I live close enough to skate there *fingers crossed*

dj07/24 02:38 PM

looks like a bowling alley…

John07/24 04:49 PM

dj,
Before I even saw your comment, my immediate thought was that the space would be terrific for a Lucky Strike Bowling Alley. Their business model needs a kitchen. So, not all of the existing infrastructure would go to waste.
But, while the space might be really good, I think the exactly location downtown could be better.
http://www.bowlluckystrike.com/

Jon07/24 05:14 PM

I thought it might be where Tyler’s Taproom was putting their new Raleigh location. This pic sure looks a lot like the storefront.

Jerimee07/24 05:34 PM

@oakcity We have a real butcher - Larry’s Supermarket!

http://www.newraleigh.com/raleigh/newly-post/learning-to-shop-local/

http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&q=Larry’s+supermarket+raleigh&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&view=text&latlng=8528436741313687007

sasquatch07/24 09:15 PM

me hear foxy lady going to relocate in this space…goody goody.

miamiblue07/25 12:45 AM

Jon, I also had wondered if this might be the future home of the rumored Seaboard Tyler’s location.

L. Brown07/25 11:15 AM

The powers of Google:

http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2008/09/15/story5.html

All signs point to Tyler’s tap room

Raleigh Boy07/25 12:46 PM

gee whiz—just what downtown Raleigh needs—yet another ‘60 specialty draft beers’ joint. ho hum, I am soooo impressed.

DPK07/25 02:26 PM

@Raleigh Boy: Speak for yourself, I’m excited for Tylers. They have decent food and pretty good drink specials to boot.

Lisa Jeffries07/25 07:42 PM

It would be stellar if all of these “Raleigh needs” comments could come with some investment opportunities to put the money where your mouth is . I think it’d be interesting to see just what type of businesses DTR would sustain that we don’t yet have.

kg07/27 07:16 AM

kind of torn with this one… while i like the idea of tyler’s, raleigh’s downtown is quickly becoming an urban bar crawl. there are so many ‘needs’ to make downtown more liveable, it’s just a shame that prime real estate keeps going towards bars and such. grocery, movies, bookstore, retail, etc., etc., etc….

Clyde07/27 09:29 AM

I talked to the good folks over at Tyler’s Apex locale. They said it’s them.

HOWEVER, I do find it ironic that ‘grocery store’ has been thrown in a lot of the threads here. Even mention of one in St. Louis that was 2 stories. Yet a lot of these same posters were giving me grief about making the Peak Fitness building into a grocery express. Get out of the box people!!!

Bill07/27 09:39 AM

Downtown Raleigh has a movie theater, it is called the Rialto. If you want mainstream crap, go to the IMAX theater downtown, or to North Hills. Downtown had a grocery store and everyone complained about it more than supporting it. Go to Taz’s. Go to the Rialto. Go to Mission Valley and The Colony and The Galaxy in Cary, rather than wishing for a corporate multiplex in downtown but please stop with all the wishing for something that already exists without receiving the support it deserves.

hackles1007/27 09:44 AM

I still think we need a movie theatre, grocery store, and something like a lucky strike downtown in the worst way, but I think tylers could do really well at this location!

Annie07/27 09:45 AM

That Tyler’s rendering is for the other side of the building, next to Tookie’s Grill. The windows have been fuzzed out for a while, but it doesn’t look like they’ve made any progress.

Trader Joes should have gone into that space and not into Holly Park.

See street view.: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=35.788837,-78.63915&spn=0,359.980881&z=16&layer=c&cbll=35.78884,-78.63925&panoid=bDprXGUAGiXXH9Qdohvbiw&cbp=12,357.38,,0,-3.89

hackles1007/27 09:47 AM

True, trader joes would have really breathed life into Seaboard!

I am guessing they were too far along with the holly park plans when the space became available!

Lisa Jeffries07/27 10:08 AM

Honestly, I think Trader Joe’s could thrive in both locations. I wouldn’t pass Seaboard to drive to Holly Park and vice versa. I’d LOVE to have one here in Garner

AberZombie07/28 11:06 AM

I’m sorry, but Trader Joe’s is nothing special. A scaled down version of Whole Foods with the same high prices. Nah! We can do without!

JT07/28 12:00 PM

$2.99 bottles of decent wine and <$2 frozen food is high prices?? No wonder nothing sells and business close down town.

Lisa Jeffries07/28 01:18 PM

AberZombie, our bill doubles when we shop outside of TJs… not sure where the high price statement came from.

Todd Morman07/28 03:26 PM

“Go to Taz’s.”

Do any of his stores have fresh fruit and vegetables yet? Serious non-snarky question.

Bill07/28 03:44 PM

No, they do not currently have fruit and vegetables. But there is a downtown farmer’s market (City Market) of local fruit and produce. And you can purchase local/organic from Coon Rock Farm and pick up your produce at Zely & Ritz. Or you can do all your shopping at Harris Teeter.

It seems that before a town gets a Whole Foods, people complain about not having a Whole Foods. Once they get a Whole Foods, they complain about the price and they shop a little there, a little at Trader Joes and mostly at Kroger/Harris/Teeter. I’m just arguing that downtown Raleigh has most of what people are wishing for, just not under one roof - and that’s okay.

smitty07/28 08:06 PM

I would rather shop at something like a Weaver Street Market in DTR. Trader Joe’s isn’t even a US owned company anymore. http://traitorjoe.com/

Johnyjohny2x408/07 08:18 AM

As a former restaurant employee downtown, may I just say no matter what happens to go into the space there will Always be New Raleigh prick bloggers that will bash, bad mouth, and hate on any business that will go into the space. It really amuses me to even enter this site cause of all the irrational downtown “Hipsters” that hate on the commercial grocery stores or large theater ideas for downtown. First and foremost I have been to the reialto(spelling) a couple times and may I just say that it is in no way comparable to a newer theater in any way. Its apples and oranges, not everyone wants to see an indy film or a film that has not even been mainstream for the general public to even know about. It fine that there are a group of people that like to frequent places like that and that is exactly how they stay in business but on the flip side if someone came in and actually put up a megaplex or a Trader Joe’s or Harris Teeter they would all do amazingly well downtown. The problem with down town is the fact that the people that live there won’t support these proposed plans, and the ones that live there want to get the hell out of downtown as soon as they get out of work. Same thing with the bar scene the reason the keep popping up is the fact that they still receive ample business to keep the doors open, people have no problem coming to visit downtown, but with out the true downtown shopping and retail sector the downtown scene will always change cause no one can afford to keep a place open with people constantly bad mouthing or blogging about it in a negative way whether or not they have even visited the places or not. As far as a fish monger pssst, down town(inside the belt line) has three fish markets, in which you can pick up super fresh fish from the beaches, there are butchers all around raleigh, just quit being so stereotypical and open your eyes, go to carnecaritas(spelling sucks) the mexican/latino stores almost always have a butcher window, as well as cliffs in carboro and most any grocery stores. Downtown raleigh is a waste of space and was very horribly designed from the get go. Once it either grows by 100% or they realize the flaws and moves the RBC downtown then and only then will downtown raleigh ever be able to sustain the needed retail and wholesale shops and markets. Untill then watch all the stores open and close, then realize that downtown needs too much help and move to north raleigh or else where, then you can find everything you want and not have to pay three times as much just to live “Down Town”

matt08/07 09:00 AM

I don’t even grok this whole “argument”. Try living in a big city for your whole life and then coming here. Raleigh is a LITTLE TINY TOWN. Suburb-to-suburb through the city in 20 minutes.

It is SO little trouble to get from downtown to one of the many, many large shopping districts right outside downtown that I am having a hard time not decrying you as spoiled, self-centered babies. Yet I won’t do so, ‘cause I love y’all, and ‘cause maybe you’ve never been anywhere else to compare.

GD08/07 09:15 AM

Matt: Yeah Raleigh definitely is small. I look forward to the day I leave this city (hopefully end of Dec. this year) for a “real” city.

Lisa Jeffries08/07 11:09 AM

GD, I hate to sound like a snotty “Raleighite”, but no one’s forcing you to be here. I can’t stand hearing the whole “I can’t wait to get out of Raleigh” thing. If you don’t like, no one’s stopping you from leaving. No need to complain on a topic about something brewing in an empty commercial real estate property about your distaste for the Raleigh way of life.

matt08/08 04:03 PM

Don’t get me wrong, GD. I liked it big but I like where I am better. I LOVE it here.

KAT08/10 10:35 AM

Yeah GD, having lived in both Boston and Philly before I must say Raleigh is a pretty cool town…don’t let the door hit you on your way out! C-YA

Raleigh Born and Bred10/09 12:57 PM

GD…whatever plane, train or automobile that brought you here can also take you away. Get packin’ and have a nice trip…and please don’t be like others who have moved away and begged to come back once they realized that their new home can’t compare to Raleigh.

Matt…there used to be a blogger like you (maybe you?) on another Raleigh website who always had to remind people that Raleigh wasn’t New York, Houston, Philly, or other U.S. mega-city, and that Raleigh was a TINY LITTLE TOWN. How about reading up on some city stats? Raleigh is now bigger than St. Louis, Richmond, D.C. (not counting suburbs), Pittsburgh (not counting suburbs), Minneapolis, Tampa, Buffalo. At roughly 400,000 people and about 200 square miles, Raleigh is hardly a TINY LITTLE TOWN. And I don’t know what roads you’re taking, or what suburbs you’re talking about (there are many), but tip to tip in 20 minutes is a joke.
I’m constantly amused by people who move here and have to comment that Raleigh isn’t a huge mega city like New York…um….DUH…No Raleigh isn’t the largest city in the country.
And we like it that way.

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Jedidiah Friday, July 24, 2009