Downtown Raleigh business growing

Raleigh, N.C. — Despite tough economic times, some downtown businesses are thriving.

Gauray Patel, owner of the Japanese sushi restaurant Sono, at 319 Fayetteville St., has plans for another restaurant downtown. Sono opened about eight months ago, and Patel is expanding to open The Oxford Gastropub in the place previously occupied by Yancy’s restaurant.

“We are doing some cosmetic changes, giving it a more British pub feel to it,” Patel said.

According to the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, 32 new businesses have opened in the district this year. A total of 15 businesses have closed.

The latest business to close its doors was upscale restaurant Prime Only. The owner of the restaurant, off of Glenwood Avenue, blamed tough economic times for the closure.

“We never want to hear about the closing of any business in downtown,” Downtown Raleigh Alliance economic development manager Paul Reimel said.

Reimel said it is common for businesses to come and go, but with the new convention center and other revitalization efforts, there are more businesses coming than going

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i hate when people bash downtown raleigh, saying downtown is a joke, yes it is not as big as major cities, or offer as much RIGHT NOW, but it really has a great start...compare it to just 10 years ago. The condos are high,yes, and there is a lot of them, but businesses will not come there unless there are people living there to support it.There are several great places in downtown that will rival a lot of major cities. Also real estate is so high there because of the access to RTP where the average salary there is well above the national average,and has made several lists on best places to live, and work. So you think its a joke, move to DC and deal with their crime a traffic.

chadstermac
October 1, 2008 5:48 p.m.

I miss Yancy's restaurant .. they had really good food ..

Spittin Dat Knowledge
October 1, 2008 4:06 p.m.

As usual, misinformation and stupidity run rampant.

For the mathematically challenged, 32 minus 15 is 17. That means there has been a gain of 17 businesses downtown, which is the definition of growth.

As for Prime Only, the downtown location lasted longer than its North Raleigh counterpart off Leesville Road. Does that mean North Raleigh is worse off than downtown? No, but it does point to the fact that places with bad customer service see less repeat business and eventually fail.

Southend Brewery was in the same space a few years ago and also failed due to horrible customer service, not location. Maybe they should go across Jones to 42nd Street and see how to treat customers.

Several shops downtown -- TazMart and CapCity Grocery have everything CVS does other than prescriptions, Stitch sells handbags, etc., Father and Sons and Stuff have items on consignment, and there are several clothing stores on Hargett and Wilmington Street.

J.Betski's = German food for lunch.

ncwebguy
October 1, 2008 3:31 p.m.

As a native, I would agree with your whole "Move" philosphy!

Garnerwolf1
October 1, 2008 2:57 p.m.

Downtown Raleigh is joke anyway. Hurray I get to choose an overpriced condo and have no where to walk for groceries or park my car safely. at those prices I can live in luxury in a real community or move to a city with a real downtown. Oh I know the solution!!! Lets's move all our historic buildings out of the way and build MORE stupid condos, brill Raleigh, just brill. I think our founding father, you know the one who's grave is PAVED over with a parking lot, just threw up in his grave. Maybe you could make a new restaurant there....