Can Evan Reid Spark a DTR Retail Revival?

Can Evan Reid kick-start a new era for Glenwood South?

Glenwood South has no shortage of places to drink, dine and dance until last call. But when it comes to places to shop? That’s a different story. Until now.

Raleigh-based furniture purveyor Evan Reid is planting a sizable retail flag—read: a 4,200-square-foot gallery—at the mouth of the city’s biggest entertainment district, bringing vintage furniture, custom upholstery, original art and interior design “unlike anything that you can find within 100 miles,” says founder Evan Bush.

But the move is bigger than sofas and fabric swatches. Evan Reid is betting Glenwood South is finally ready for something it has long lacked: destination retail.

A collaboration among multiple creatives, Bush will showcase his collection of restored midcentury and postmodern furniture alongside Raleigh interior designer Kate Anlyan’s Yasu Home studio, which she will operate from the space, and California designer Kim Salmela’s custom upholstery—making its first East Coast retail appearance. 

Adding a full-circle twist, Evan Reid is setting up shop in a building that once housed National Art Interiors, a furniture and interiors business operated by Anlyan’s family. Furniture, it seems, has found its way home.

While the building’s history didn’t drive the decision, it certainly made the space feel tailor-made. The stand-alone site came with corner visibility, windows on two sides, separate gallery areas and an existing office for Anlyan’s studio—plus two bathrooms and a kitchen, which saved ~$100K in buildout costs, says Bush. 

The location’s larger potential came into focus once Bush started studying the surroundings—the adjacent AC Hotel, The Casso just down the street and nearby offices that keep the sidewalks moving well before Glenwood South’s nighttime crowd clocks in. 

“The foot traffic is great during the day,” says Bush, pointing to the throngs of people who work along the corridor. 

That daytime energy is easy to overlook beneath Glenwood South’s louder after-dark reputation. But with apartments, hotels and work-stay-play destinations steadily bringing people in, this is no longer a district Raleigh simply commutes to, dines in or barhops through. Increasingly, it’s a place people call home.

“Downtown living is very much becoming a thing,” says Bush. “I just see a hole in the market still.” And that’s the opportunity Evan Reid hopes to seize—giving nearby residents somewhere to furnish those new digs, office workers a reason to linger after 5 o’clock, and weekend wanderers something to browse before the first espresso martini hits the table.

While one showroom won’t transform Glenwood South into a shopping district overnight, it could give the next retailer something Downtown has long lacked: proof opening here is worth the gamble.

“I definitely hope it could,” says Bush. “It wouldn’t hurt my feelings.” A little more shopping wouldn’t hurt DTR, either.