Here We Grow Again closing its doors

In case you missed it in the comments, the consignment shop Here We Grow Again will be closing its door at the end of the month. It's rough out there.

The specifics from Daphne:

I heard they closed as well :-( small businesses are just having a hard time all the way around in Waxhaw. We just announced the closing of our store as well-Here We Grow Again in Waxhaw (children's consignment store). Our doors officially close on April 30th after 3 years being in business.

I meant to post this last week, but I've been a little swamped at work and home, entertaining computers and visiting family. If you're looking for a deal on kid's stuff in the next few days, consider stopping by.

Quilting Nook closing its doors

The good news is there's a 50% off sale going on right now per the sign in the window. The bad news is that it means another store in Waxhaw is closing its doors.

I always here the rent in historic downtown Waxhaw is quite astronomical and given the frequency where businesses come and go, that seems to be the case,

News flash: Movie Gallery closing

Well, not quite breaking news at this point as the rather large signs have been in the windows for a few weeks now.

But my family stopped by last weekend to check out discount Wii games. While the Wii games appeared to have been thoroughly picked over, it wasn't a total loss as we walked out of there with a couple Batman cartoons & a copy of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. So the boys & I made out like bandits, but the missus not so much.

The fact that Movie Gallery is closing its doors is not terribly surprising in the age of Netflix & Redbox. I can honestly say this was our first visit, but my family may be an outlier. Over the last year, our rentals have been a combination of Blockbuster (via free rental coupons), Redbox, and Amazon & I suspect they didn't total much greater than one per month.

Southport Gift Shop closing

Just a quick note that Southport Gift Shop is closing per the sign on their window.

From looking back at my archives, it appears I never touched upon the fact they moved from their old Spice-tainted location (see here) to their new much smaller storefront near in the Main Street Grill plaza.

Past posts have illustrated that maintaining a business in Waxhaw is difficult, but it's too bad to see Southport go since there's not many shops in Waxhaw where you can go pick up a gift or knick-knack for someone. Where else can you go in town to pick up a non-antique gift for someone? That's not a good thing for procrastinators like me.

Dairy Barn closes (temporarily?)

The Dairy Barn had a Facebook post Friday evening saying they were closing up shop due to lease issues. Here's the whole post:

To Our Customers: It is with so much sadness that we announce the closing of our beloved Dairy Barn. We opened a year ago and we have enjoyed serving every one of you this past year. ....and now, at the end of our first year lease, we have encountered some issues that do not seem to have solutions, so we will close for the winter and look for another location to re-open this spring. Thank you for visiting The Dairy Barn, Thank You for believing in our dream, and Thank You for your continued support during this very very difficult time. Jane and Greg Carpenter

The Dairy Barn was one of the businesses in Waxhaw we regularly visited, generally for the ice cream. It was fun to play a game of checkers or Connect 4 while eating our cones.

It's a shame they needed to close up shop, but not really surprising given the revolving door of businesses that have existed in that location since we came to town. For what it's worth, Jackson's Emporium and their overpriced candy was my favorite, followed closely by The Dairy Barn.

Either way, the rent set by the owner does not seem to allow any businesses to occupy this space with serious longevity, at least thus far. But I have no idea what the rent is here or at other downtown locations.

It's times like this where I recall an old County Edge article that detailed the difficulties of starting and maintaining a business in Waxhaw. Of course, it's been so long that this article may just be a figment of my imagination at this point, growing more illustrative of this problem with each telling. For what it's worth, I'm told the Waxhaw library should have an archive of the old County Edges that I should someday take some time to re-peruse.

Either way, keep your eyes peeled for The Dairy Barn in the spring as they plan to investigate alternative locations.

My question: are they still going to have the arcade games? A large handful of tokens is sitting in our cupboard. Hopefully someday they can be put to good use, otherwise I may have to auction these off as arcane tokens of Waxhaw history.

Bridge & Rail closing or already closed?

I heard from the missus who heard from her friend (those details have been provided to help you determine how much stock you want to put into this rumor) that the Bridge & Rail is closing or has already closed. I'll be driving by tomorrow on my way to a game, so I'll try to remember to look. (UPDATE 9/28: I forgot to look & I've been by there 2 or 3 times since the original post. Luckily for me, the missus did confirm there's a sign on the door saying it's closed for renovation & will re-open under new ownership.)

Other details provided by those vicious rumormongers were that the new owners were going to petition for it to be turned into a bar.

My first thought: hooray a bar I can walk to!

My second thought: is this possible even if the Southsiders-sponsored referendum passes? In other words, does the ability to serve beer & mixed drinks alone allow for the opening of a bar? Or are there additional hoops to jump through even if referendum passes? I don't know enough about it to say either way.

I know The County Edge (now defunct?) once had an article detailing the kinds of businesses that were & weren't allowed to open up downtown. But I highly doubt bars were included on the undesirables list like gun dealers were because at that time, there was no chance they could open for business at that time. (We wouldn't want gun dealers rubbing elbows with bead barons, now would we?)

On a lighter note, I'd never eaten at the Bridge & Rail although we heard from a couple people who weren't real high on it.

Friday nights at MSG

No, not Madison Square Garden, but the local MSG -- Main Street Grill.

Apparently dinner on Friday nights will soon be available and they will be closing on Monday's, per a recent Facebook update.

Here is the update in all its glory:

Don't forget friday night dinners start july 29th!
Main street grill will close mondays starting august 1st.

A little eleventh hour Christmas shopping in Waxhaw

The kids and I went out in Waxhaw looking for a Christmas gift for the special lady in our life. I thought we could head over to the Bead Merchants and make a necklace or something like that for her. But we were thwarted by the their holiday business hours that had them closing up shop on December 21st.

We headed over to the used book store since it's there and came out with a bunch of kids books and a $14 bill. Not a bad price for all the books we got, but it seems like we paid more per book than previous trips to the use book shop. It's for a good cause, so it's not a big deal; just an observation.

Waxhaw Antique Mart was open on our way back so we stopped in there to what kind of gift we could find. Lots of options, but the kids are confident they picked a good one.

Intersection work starting Tuesday

Per the town's website, work on the intersection of Broome Street & South Main Street is finally set to begin.

NC16 and NC75 Intersection Improvements to Begin

Beginning Tuesday, July 6, 2010, NCDOT and the contractors for the project will begin closing the NC 16 & 75 intersection. It is anticipated the closure will last from July 6 thru August 8. This will cause delays moving through the detour so please allow additional travel time. Large truck traffic is encouraged to use Grey Byrum and Waxhaw-Marvin roads to avoid congestion on Downtown streets. Detour routes have been posted by NCDOT. When complete the streets will provide larger turning radius from NC-75 to NC-16, safer pedestrian crossing areas with pedestrian signals, mast arms for the signals allowing for a more pleasing appearance, improved railroad crossing and signalization and new pavement and storm drainage upgrades.

Some rather dated details of the work to be done can be found here. Note that these are just proposed changes, so what percentage of this is still accurate is anyone's guess.

No word on the left turning light for those turning left from South Main Street to Broome Street, although my wife has informed me there is now a left turning light for those coming south on Broome.

I'll wait until everything is said and done before I contemplate grumbling about it.

Kick 'n' Stitch no more

Per a Scott Farb (of Museum of the Waxhaws fame) update on Facebook, the Kick 'n Stitch Broom Shop is closing its doors. I imagine the website won't be around much longer as well.

It was a great place to stop by and see him in action on First Fridays. I imagine for those out-of-town visitors coming in on the weekend, it was a popular place to hang out a little while to see the antique broom-making machine in action.

I guess he wasn't doing enough business to cover the rent on the place. For those of us who hadn't purchased a broom (unfortunately I am one), it makes me wish I had. Although in this environment, it would've probably only been a stopgap solution. I suspect it's hard to convince people to purchase a $30 broom when they might not really need one during a time of serious penny-pinching.

I hope Mark keeps on making and selling his brooms. If he already isn't doing so, getting a booth and demonstrating his craft at Waxhaw's festivals seems like a no-brainer now.

Broome Street to be closed for Fiestas

No word on if there will be any changes re: siestas.

Per the Union County Weekly (here), which has just been a treasure trove of Waxhaw-related tidbits this week, the town will be closing off Broome Street from Hwy 75 to Caldwell Street to accommodate the Fiesta Band starting in 2011.

This was suggested way back in May by yours truly; here's the related snippet:

[One side note on the Fiesta Band: I'm not sure how appreciated they will be by nearby businesses on First Friday evenings, particularly the Waxhaw Antique Mart. I suspect there will be a significant-enough group of potential patrons that will not be interested in running the Fiesta Band gauntlet to examine the Antique Mart's wares. Maybe the town can begin blocking off the southern side of Broome Street on First Friday evening to accommodate the ever-growing Fiesta Band, which would give them plenty of room to perform the Thriller dance. That is...if they think they can manage it. (yes, consider that a shot across their bow)]

There are a few things we can take away from this turn of events:

1) I have slightly more commonsense that you once thought. Maybe.

2) The Fiesta Band undeniably ignored my Thriller challenge.

3) Someone in the town's power structure stumbled across the aforementioned suggestion, most likely when trying to dig up a rare photo of a town blogger that lied within.

I don't see any other explanations for #3.

More bad news from New 2 You

First there was the break-in.

And today my wife got a call today from New 2 You saying that they're closing and to come pick up our items that hadn't sold.

After Here We Grow Again closed up shop, I think that just leaves one more remaining consignment shop in Waxhaw - Sweet Repeats.

Waxhaw Child Development Center getting shafted

I'd been waiting for the ball to drop on this for a couple weeks now. Per a WBTV article:

WAXHAW, NC (WBTV) - Parents and grandparents whose children attend a local daycare say road construction is putting kids in danger.

They feel closing the entrance at Waxhaw Child Development Center on Providence Road will hamper the flow of traffic, especially for emergency vehicles.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me to remove the entrance to the Waxhaw Child Development Center at this point. It's been there for how many years with no problems.

I can't think of a benefit of removing it. Am I missing something?

Town charrette nearly completed

We got a flyer in the mail a while back advertising another Waxhaw design charrette where interested townsfolk and designers go to try to help determine the direction Waxhaw is heading and to brand the town.

The full schedule is here if you're hoping to catch the two closing sessions. If you were hoping to get more of a heads up from me on the charrette, then you seriously miscalculated.

Upon receiving the flyer, my eye was inexplicably drawn to the three daily pin-up sessions. While I'm sure the town planners went in a different direction, there are few better ways to induce male involvement in a design charrette than to incorporate pin-up models.

Display some of the classic artwork of Elvgren or Vargas and just think about the community involvement! Or if you want to go big, you can bring in a painter and model to watch the artwork get created in real-time and make a festival out of it.