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Doubling down on Downtown
Downtown Raleigh is really proving her resilience. Despite the recent rise in crime, business owners are buying in and continuing to establish roots—and doubling down on Downtown. It’s a welcome harbinger of hope, given that metropolitan downtowns (think San Francisco) typically experience a mass exodus in the face of “unsafe conditions.”
Instead, local entrepreneurs remain invested in Downtown—literally. One such business owner is Caitlin Cary, who is reopening her The Pocket Gallery in City Market in January. “I think the crime reflects some hard times we all can’t deny,” says the owner/founder. “I feel a lot of sympathy, and I also feel I’m a part of a business that is all about building community—I hope that good energy can help overcome.”
Pocket Art Gallery photo by Caitlin Cary
Building on that good energy, Cary—a working artist who specializes in fabric collage and recognizes the economic challenges of the city—plans to move her gallery from its former Oakwood digs into the City Market Artist Collective (CMAC), where she’ll join a community of 12 artists. There, she’ll continue to display her work along with the work of 30 artists on her roster.
And, not leaving the Oakwood space vacant, Cheryl Fraser, owner and founder of Galatea Boutique—which some may remember from Seaboard—jumped on the opportunity and will move into the vacant space in the new year after spending the last year-and-a-half operating out of a mobile boutique.
While the new business blood bodes well for DTR, having retailers committed to staying Downtown is also critical. Popular DTR home for houseplants Copperline Plant Co. owner Anna Grace FitzGerald is one such local who dug into City Market in 2022—and remains committed to the space she’s cultivated.
“When I was looking for a place to lay roots, I knew I wanted to be Downtown,” she says, “and in a place with character and history—because it aligns with the feeling we try to evoke in the shop: a feeling of a stable homebase for folks.”
Over the summer, a window was broken in at her business, but despite the incident, she remains unfazed. Nothing was stolen and no one was hurt, FitzGerald emphasized, and this is what mattered the most. “This is a product of more and more people moving to the Triangle… growing pains,” she adds.
FitzGerald welcomes the ebb and flow of new businesses moving into City Market and the Downtown area, viewing it as a healthy progression of the city. Despite recent challenges, the attractive and charming street—and our city core as a whole—continues to thrive with more businesses, opportunities and activities that not only attract Raleigh residents, but tourists as well. So, seeds of change now cultivating, if you will.
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