Taz to Convert Downtown Western Union into Corner Store

blueraleigh
01/28 01:57 PM

Aside from the (overpriced) beer and emergency toilet paper, the items at Taz’s aren’t worth foregoing driving to Harris Teeter. The marts in “true urban centers across the country” have stock that rivals a grocery store, not to mention a deli, good coffee, etc.
Note to Mr. Zarka: place a suggestion box in your stores for downtown residents; this will serve you well.
Good Luck!

Zach
01/28 02:01 PM

I have met with Taz before a couple of times… He seems very enthusiastic about downtown and his customers.  He went out of his way to carry RedBridge beer (which is Gluten Free) at one of his stores.  It is higher priced but I’m sure it has to do with his high rent since it is downtown.

sally
01/28 03:07 PM

Here are a few essentials I always find myself popping out for:

- coffee filters (cone!)
- half-and-half (keeping up with the theme)
- tonic water (essential)

Any market should have these.

ct
01/28 08:04 PM

I assume Western Union has had a presence in or near this building, ever since WU moved out of the old Raleigh Union Station building at Martin and Dawson. By 1950, Union Station was no longer used by passenger trains.

Aaron
01/28 09:15 PM

Have people started moving into the RBC Plaza and any of the other condos in downtown yet? I’m worried there aren’t enough people to shop at any of these marts.

MR
01/29 04:34 PM

...yeah and at night, The West looks barren. Not good.

MMI
01/29 07:13 PM

Hey, I think it’s a great idea.  Look, Walgreen’s has made their money by realizing that customers will value having a store VERY close to them, even though that Harris Teeter (as blueraleigh mentioned) isn’t that long of a drive away.  Personally, I go to Taz’ shop on Wilmington when I roll out of Raleigh Times, Slim’s, Landmark, or any of the other joints nearby.  It’s a great place to grab a cold water, red bull, etc.  Placing another location near The Berkeley Cafe’ and the Warehouse district is a welcome piece of business strategy.

Now, if someone would just open a late-night location closer to Cam Village, I can stop hitting the Teeter after I leave places there.  Our lone gas station is now gone, and even it wasn’t open long past dark.

Raleigh Boy
01/30 12:48 PM

In the second photo you can see a painted sign on the side of the Berkeley Cafe. It reads “Carolina Hotel and Cafe,” and dates from the 1920s when that establishment occupied the building. By the 1930s it had been supplanted by the “Holywood Hotel and Cafe,” which remained until 1981 or so, when the Berkeley moved in.

The Western Union Building went up in the mid 1950s. Well into the 1970s you could still see the bicycles of the messenger boys lined up out front. I sent my first and only telegram from here in 1974.

ct
01/30 12:56 PM

Cool, I had never noticed the Carolina Hotel paint. Makes sense that there was a hotel very close to the train station.

Mid-1950s as a construction date for the WUTCo building is consistent with closing Union Station in 1950.

aw
01/30 02:09 PM

This is great!  I work near Nash Square, and I would definitely use a convenience store closer than Fayetteville St, easier to pop out during a short lunch break.  Great! 

Does anyone know where Western Union and the Payment Center will go?  These places get a lot of traffic, and I hope that they’ll remain in a place that’s easy to reach by bus/foot.

Jedidiah
01/30 02:21 PM

AW,

The Western Union will remain there, it will just be a convenience store ALSO and have more products than it currently does.

Barden
02/02 12:07 PM

I like that Taz’s has the virtue of predictable and convenient business hours, unlike CVS on Fayetteville Street…

Tony
02/02 07:49 PM

Nash Square also had another, grander hotel where the N&O is now called the Park Hotel. It wass designed by AG Bauer, of the Governors Mansion. It was later used as apartments and torn down in the Sixties, if I remember correctly. The Hollywood Cafe was famous for it’s unusual, marble topped bar.

Mr. Downtown
02/16 08:08 PM

Am I the only one disappointed in TAZ stores? They seem fairly bland and lack character of any sort. They look like a guy decided to set up shop selling Viennese sausages out of an old garage. I like the idea of convenience stores downtown, but I think the TAZ brand is not what the doctor ordered.

MMI
02/16 08:27 PM

The only character I associate with convenience stores is Apu Nahasapeemapetelan.

JRD
02/17 09:55 PM

It’s a convenience store.  How much character do you need?  They are there for our CONVENIENCE, not inspire awe or capture the imagination.

MMI
02/18 01:48 AM

That’s what I meant, only less funny. 

Mikhail
01/04 06:47 AM

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