EpiCentre Retail

[voyager12]

I went to Epicentre this past wkd and got a very blah feeling. Kind of like it's a parody of " city world "you would find at Disney. But felt very mall like to me. I am trying to like it. It's so gray. The place is not finished yet I know I hope more color is added. Where is the music store going to be?

[QueenCityLegend]

It is the big brick building on North Tryon on the right side as you head North just before you reach 11th street. (or is it 12th) It closed in 1979.

I noticed tonight(on my way to Whiskey River), that BlackFinn (which looks very nice btw) will offically open for Business on August 11th @ 4pm.

[Temeteron]

I can't wait till we get some 'non-college' oriented restaurants/stores........seems like right now everything is based around that age group.......

[Charlotte_native]

I went to Epicentre this past wkd and got a very blah feeling. Kind of like it's a parody of " city world "you would find at Disney. But felt very mall like to me. I am trying to like it. It's so gray. The place is not finished yet I know I hope more color is added. Where is the music store going to be?

It is very mall-like, but I think we need that right now. I feel any city core needs to cater to all types and needs most, if not all, blanks filled in. Not just mom and pops (which I'd personally rather see) but also the big chains or places that people recognize. For me it's all about the mix and if a mall came first, so be it. If it were non-mall-like then those that want a mall in uptown would be complaining.

Though it is mall-like, it doesn't really have the retail type element of a typical mall. I guess it would be more of an entertainment mall. Though many of the place now seem to cater to the same crowd with little differences, the options will expand greatly when the theater and bowling alley open up.

[New Name]

Signs were going up for Flemmings tonight as of 9pm.

Oh and it can't be new, but when did the curved billboard on the corner of Trade and College get backlit? Has it always been lit up?

And also, tonight was the first time I saw the escalator actually running.

I bet none of this is new, but it's the first for me.

[UrbanFuture]

The CBJ has an article up today detailing the newest edition (in pictures) of EpiCentre, BlackFinn. It also lists several tenants expecting to open before November and their tenative dates. The bridge should be complete by August 21st as well.

http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte...8427200^1681511

[dubone]

Jason's Deli has long been said to be coming to Epicentre, and most of the posts listing tenants have placed that on the 2nd floor above Flemings at 4th and College. In the CBJ article, they list it as opening up in September. While walking my dog past there today, I noticed a sign for "Jason's Deli now hiring" in the location I consider to be the anchor space that was originally slated for Fox Sports Grill.

Someone please tell me that they are simply being allow to advertise there because of the visibility of that space and that they are not actually going into there!

If they have resorted to moving a run-of-the-mill tenant to their prime spot, then to me, it signals a serious problem for this complex. I mean, Jason's Deli in the most prominent retail space across from the Ritz and the headquarters of Bank of America!?

I'm holding out hope that they are just letting them advertise there.

[Guest]

Jason's Deli has long been said to be coming to Epicentre, and most of the posts listing tenants have placed that on the 2nd floor above Flemings at 4th and College. In the CBJ article, they list it as opening up in September. While walking my dog past there today, I noticed a sign for "Jason's Deli now hiring" in the location I consider to be the anchor space that was originally slated for Fox Sports Grill.

Someone please tell me that they are simply being allow to advertise there because of the visibility of that space and that they are not actually going into there!

If they have resorted to moving a run-of-the-mill tenant to their prime spot, then to me, it signals a serious problem for this complex. I mean, Jason's Deli in the most prominent retail space across from the Ritz and the headquarters of Bank of America!?

I'm holding out hope that they are just letting them advertise there.

I don't have the luxury of going by the spot since I don't live in charlotte anymore, but from eyewitnesses from friends, and people on this site, the former fox grill space is not at a position, construction-wise, that it could possibly be home to jason deli by september. Not to mention that space is much too large for a jasons deli. Last I heard that space was still fire proofing, exposed concrete and piping, definately not something that would mark a store getting close to opening. From what I understand the it will be exactly where it has been said to be going ever since the last tenant list was posted on UP, so I guess we can assume the advertisement for Jason's Deli's hiring is only for the purpose of visibility.

Edit:

For further proof of it being at College and 4th not in the main building, here is its future address.

<h2 style="margin: 0pt; font-size: 1em;">Charlotte, NC: Epicenter Coming Soon!</h2>210 E Trade Street Suite C240

Charlotte, NC 28202

If it was in Building A It would be 100A as the suite number.

[Andyc545]

^^ Well that's some relief. You had me gasping for air there for a second, dubone. I didn't think it could be possible seeing much better options on the site already, but I guess anything is possible. On another note, BlackFinn's official grand opening is next Friday the 22nd. I haven't been by in a while, but does anyone know if the sign is up yet and if they look to be set up inside? I know they were suppose to be open for training and private guests now but haven't heard anything.

[uptownliving]

^^ Well that's some relief. You had me gasping for air there for a second, dubone. I didn't think it could be possible seeing much better options on the site already, but I guess anything is possible. On another note, BlackFinn's official grand opening is next Friday the 22nd. I haven't been by in a while, but does anyone know if the sign is up yet and if they look to be set up inside? I know they were suppose to be open for training and private guests now but haven't heard anything.

They had their soft opening last weekend. Some friends of mine went on a Saturday night and had a good time. Their only complaint was that the A/C did not appear to be working well.

[mshook]

I'm going to a private party at BlackFinn at 5:30. I'll let you know what it's like...

[dubone]

Maybe this was said in that whole discussion of Cold Stone Creamery before, but I had my first visit there yesterday. It was such a strange experience. It was deserted (that seriously was not intended as a pun), and felt very odd walking back into all the construction. That alleyway is very odd, as it is actually an attempt to have different storefronts, albeit 1/3 of them are just variations of EIFS, but it did leave me wondering why the least visible part of the project would get the most variation in style. This is the alley that Ghazi was referring to that would look like a 'European street'. While it is true that some elements of it do feel like some old 15' wide streets in Europe, the quality of materials made it seem quite Disney-like.

Anyway, in the ice cream shop, they acted starved for customers, (and even when we walked in, it was 1:1 ratio of customers to employees). I was most surprised that despite being not that much smaller than a normal Cold Stone, they only had a tiny selection of actual ice cream, maybe a dozen flavors. DD/BR already has much more selection of ice cream available uptown. It seemed to me that they ought to have made the topping section smaller and actually had more flavors. One would think that an ice cream shop would try to increase that above all else.

The quality of ice cream, also, was no where near as good as Elizabeth Creamery. If only I could hop onto the streetcar to go grab some, then the existance of CSC would be moot.

[monsoon]

I did a little looking up of Cold Stone and it seems they have had a lot of trouble with franchises going bust over the last couple of years. In the process I came across this opinion article that probably sums up not only Cold Stone, but the whole "theme" franchise restaurant business in general. It's unfortunate this is mostly what we get in new development these days in the Charlotte area from downtown to the suburbs.

Why does Charlotte always fall for these things?

[dubone]

Well, we do have local places too, like the Elizabeth Creamery place I mentioned (which hopefully people will support while Elizabeth Ave goes through reconstruction).

Epicentre has clearly set its goals. Pack as much sh..tuff into a single block as possible, and bring as many different food and entertainment retailers as possible, with an emphasis on chains. Ghazi clearly didn't care if the building looked cheap or if the retailers were local or anything altruistic.

The fact is, though, that Uptown has needed SOME of the stuff going into Epicentre. Certainly we didn't need the ice cream shop, but the biggies are the movie theater and the bowling alley. The rest is just a variation on the standard eating and drinking places, many of which we already had. How will Black Finn be different from Connelly's or RiRa? Simply by not being Connelly's or RiRa.

We are stuck in a bit of a catch 22 in uptown lately. We have tons of retail that is dedicated just to the midday office crowd, but then is unavailable to the residents after hours. We have a decent amount of nightlife places (restaurants and bars), but they seem to be the kinds of retailers that survive, so that is what gets added at this point.

We no longer can cry for lacking the basics, as we now have 3 drug stores, 2 grocers, and all the basic big boxes (Target, Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy, Marshalls, Staples, Office Depot, and Walmart) very accessible from uptown (by transit, car, bike and even walking -- although some are easier to walk to than others). The only thing we lack is a decently sized bookstore (there is a small bookstore in Founder's Hall, which has always had the books I've gone there to get).

So now we seem to be stuck in this mode of adding purely restaurants and bars. If they are successful, if they add variety for those that are already here, and add the potential for new people trying to visit downtown (Whisky River is a case is point for that), then we might survive long enough to get to the next level. But the waiting is torture, for getting to the point of having local boutiques and merchandise shopping.

Granted, there are a few boutiques around. There is that Bijoux (sp) in the Builders Building, and a few other places around town, but they are hardly at the level where you'd see people walking around with shopping bags. Certainly they aren't to the point where people will come downtown to shop.

So, the bottom line for me, is that I'm disappointed, but am accepting that realistically, the city needs to continue to focus on adding 'rooftops' before we'll get to the next level of retailers.

[mshook]

Blackfinn seems to me to be a cleaner/newer Fox and the Hound sans pool tables...probably won't be high on my list of places to go out. I'm still a sucker for the smaller yet unsensibly packed Attic/Madison's or "Madicson's"

[tozmervo]

I did a little looking up of Cold Stone and it seems they have had a lot of trouble with franchises going bust over the last couple of years. In the process I came across this opinion article that probably sums up not only Cold Stone, but the whole "theme" franchise restaurant business in general. It's unfortunate this is mostly what we get in new development these days in the Charlotte area from downtown to the suburbs.

Why does Charlotte always fall for these things?

That's just economics (and not just Charlotte). Retailers come and go like all trends. I'm frankly astounded that Smoothie shops are still thriving and spreading as quickly as they are. How many Smoothie Kings are we going to have uptown when the Epicenter location opens?

[New Name]

^^^^ I agree that the Cold Stone selection is small and kind of tastes different than normal. But I've been there 3 times now and was always surprised to seea good amount of customers...I assumed it would be empty because of the construction. So I guess it depends on your luck and when you go. Really though, and ice cream store is not a destination. It's a diversion. You would have to REALLY love ice cream to make a special trip there. Wait till the movie theatre brings people in, then we can judge.

[swh1972]

The walkway from Overstreet Mall to EpiCentre (over College) is scheduled to open this Thursday. They are currently installing the 'roof' but it looks to be an open air design as promised. I think this will add to the foot traffic during regular working hours, at least.

[AuLukey]

My friend and I visited the Coldstone a few days ago and I was actually surprised to see another customer in there considering the amount of construction around it. If somebody didn't tell you it was there, the little white sheets of paper with arrows might not even be noticed by passersby. I bet it will be a little busier once the theater and bowling alley open up, not to mention the NHOF and the arts complex.

While I agree that we'd all like to see some variation in Epicentre, what types of stores would fit in an entertainment complex better than food and entertainment though? I'd definitely like seeing the beginning of clothing retails coming to uptown, but I have a feeling that won't really kick off until we land a department store somewhere uptown. It's too bad Belk didn't stick around or this may have all happened awhile ago.

[Temeteron]

My friend and I visited the Coldstone a few days ago and I was actually surprised to see another customer in there considering the amount of construction around it. If somebody didn't tell you it was there, the little white sheets of paper with arrows might not even be noticed by passersby. I bet it will be a little busier once the theater and bowling alley open up, not to mention the NHOF and the arts complex.

While I agree that we'd all like to see some variation in Epicentre, what types of stores would fit in an entertainment complex better than food and entertainment though? I'd definitely like seeing the beginning of clothing retails coming to uptown, but I have a feeling that won't really kick off until we land a department store somewhere uptown. It's too bad Belk didn't stick around or this may have all happened awhile ago.

Why do people seem to have such an "anchor" mentality here in Charlotte??? Anywhere in Europe and most of the Northern Cities here have plenty of boutiques without unecessarily gigantic dept stores next to them! We dont need any more dept stores in CLT. We have PLENTY. This city is so oversaturated with Belks, Dillards & Macy's it is sickening. I swear if another one of those stores open im gonna go insane! I can totally see an H&M open at the Epicentre.....right on the light rail side close to the bus station.....it would do really well! And also maybe a Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table since JWU isnt that far away.....perhaps a Brooks Brothers or Club Monaco, or Thomas Pink for the White Collar people uptown. A Diesel would do well, since afterall, it is on "College St." and Diesel caters to that age range. A Bakery for crying out loud! A city isnt a city without walking down the street and smelling delicious fresh french baguettes and Italian pastries. A real Northern style Pizzeria! For a city the size of Charlotte I think we barely have any pizza places. I have so many ideas.....so many creative concepts....now its just a matter of people out there to actually have the courage to open these types of stores.

[tiblerbrit]

You know there isn't actually a college on College St right? There aren't any more students there (until 10pm) than anywhere else in the city.

[Guest]

You know there isn't actually a college on College St right? There aren't any more students there (until 10pm) than anywhere else in the city.

Aw man, don't tell him that, i was hopin he'd search a little bit longer.

[Guest]

Why do people seem to have such an "anchor" mentality here in Charlotte??? Anywhere in Europe and most of the Northern Cities here have plenty of boutiques without unecessarily gigantic dept stores next to them! We dont need any more dept stores in CLT. We have PLENTY. This city is so oversaturated with Belks, Dillards & Macy's it is sickening. I swear if another one of those stores open im gonna go insane! I can totally see an H&M open at the Epicentre.....right on the light rail side close to the bus station.....it would do really well! And also maybe a Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table since JWU isnt that far away.....perhaps a Brooks Brothers or Club Monaco, or Thomas Pink for the White Collar people uptown. A Diesel would do well, since afterall, it is on "College St." and Diesel caters to that age range. A Bakery for crying out loud! A city isnt a city without walking down the street and smelling delicious fresh french baguettes and Italian pastries. A real Northern style Pizzeria! For a city the size of Charlotte I think we barely have any pizza places. I have so many ideas.....so many creative concepts....now its just a matter of people out there to actually have the courage to open these types of stores.

Just so you know its not really a matter of anchor mentality in charlotte. We are home to the largest privately owned department store in the USA, and honestly wouldn't it be nice to have a downtown flagship? NYC does with Macys, Seattle has its Nordstrom, Dallas has its Neimen Marcus, and etc. Belk has been part of our cities identity for 120 Years, and we celebrate that with a huge suburban belk at southpark! Oh and 2500 strudents at J&W is certainly not enough to warrant a W-S, or a Sur La Table, but the 10k people that live downtown might be, so I would have stated that as a fact. I know for a fact brooks brothers is not far away, and we will start to get more retail for the 65,000 people that work downtown. And PLEASE stop trying to make charlotte european this, northern city that. Thats the problem. Charlotte is a fragile little preteen, still trying to find its true identity. It has to grow into the city you want first by itself, with only a little help from outsiders. Charlotte has been so reluctant to embrace its identity (except banking), and its far more interesting of a city than it gives itself. There is so much more than can be done with textile, the meckdec, heck even lance crackers, and tho it pains me to say it, people need to work on embracing Nascars influence on this city.

So whatever we get in this complex is going to help somewhat, of course we won't like it 100%, but it will bring a lot of things we need. The other stuff you talk about above will come, when we are ready.

[tiblerbrit]

The other stuff you talk about above will come, when we are ready.

You mean pizza places, right?!

[monsoon]

....Charlotte is a fragile little preteen, still trying to find its true identity. It has to grow into the city you want first by itself, with only a little help from outsiders. Charlotte has been so reluctant to embrace its identity (except banking), and its far more interesting of a city than it gives itself. .....

Charlotte is over 230 years old (forget the exact date). What keeps it in the teenager stage? I have spoken before about how lacking the design of the Epicenter is maybe reflecting the immaturity of the place still. How does this keep happening?