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An everyday essential is returning to DTR.
Call it DTR’s missing ingredient. Sure, Raleigh has no shortage of places to eat, but for daily needs, the options are surprisingly slim—until now. Enter Wolfside Urban Market, opening as early as November in the former Dollar General Express (DGX) space on East Davie Street, bringing a gourmet neighborhood grocery to one of Downtown’s biggest retail gaps.
While Publix and Weaver Street Market serve parts of the city core and niche spots like Alimentari scratch a specialty itch, the southeastern edge has largely been without a convenient place to grab groceries since DGX shuttered in late 2024 after a rocky seven-year run.
Wolfside is betting on a different model: local. Gregg Sandreuter of HM Partners, who handles the space’s leasing, says it took patience to find the right tenant—and grocery is a harder-to-fill retail category—but he says he’s “excited for Wolfside to be part of the good-news story for Downtown.”
Similar to Durham’s Bulldega Urban Market, which Wolfside owner Vishal Patel ran for years, the Raleigh concept will carry a little bit of everything. Rather than a traditional grocer, Patel envisions a one-stop neighborhood shop. Beyond NC-grown produce, pantry picks, restaurant-made freezer finds and fridge staples, an in-store sandwich bar and carefully curated products invite shoppers to linger—and discover something new. “That’s the experience I want to bring to Raleigh,” he says.
The real draw, though, is the commitment to local. Bringing Bulldega’s emphasis on Bull City brands to Raleigh, Patel expects roughly a third of Wolfside’s shelves to be devoted to Oak City names—with faves like Videri, Michael’s English Muffins and Trophy Brewing already on board.
For Patel, it’s about more than filling shelf space—it’s about giving small local makers another place to be discovered while helping shoppers stumble upon products they might otherwise never try.
“Once [Raleighites] see what we’re offering and our level of customer service, I hope they’ll at least come say hi,” he says. “We want customers to feel like they know us and we know them—and that we support each other.”
Ultimately, the opening marks another step in Downtown’s evolution—from a place people drop in to a neighborhood where people truly live. As more apartments, offices and businesses continue to fill in the urban core, everyday conveniences like grocery stores have become just as important as destination restaurants and bars.
With nearby residents, college students and 9-to-5ers all within reach, Wolfside has the ingredients to become the community space Patel envisions—and exactly the kind of neighborhood staple DTR has been missing.
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