Founded in 1793 and centered on Franklin Street, the town of Chapel Hill has always been a place where small businesses ebb and flow.
With changing demographics of the local community and growing diversity of UNC-Chapel Hill, the business landscape of downtown Chapel Hill has been ever changing.
A landscape full of small businesses
The community of Chapel Hill is famous for supporting small businesses. As a result, most of the businesses in downtown Chapel Hill are run by local small business owners.
In 2018, 76.6 percent of business were owned by independent owners while only 23.4 percent of business were chain stores or restaurants, according to data provide by the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership.
With enormous numbers of family-owned small businesses, it has not been unusual to observe constant turnovers in downtown Chapel Hill.
“We know that there’s a variety of reasons that small businesses succeed or small businesses fail, so we do anticipate a good amount of turnover in a environment that’s dominated by small local businesses,” said Elinor Landess, the interim executive director at Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership.
“It could be anything from, like the business plan wasn’t what they thought gonna be, or the landlords raises the rent, or we just had a business owner who was sick of being in the restaurant business.”
More empty spaces now compared to 2016
According to the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, in 2016, there are 12 businesses opened and 16 businesses closed. In 2017, there are 13 businesses opened and 16 businesses closed, respectively.
As more businesses closed than opened, there are more empty spaces in Downtown Chapel Hill. The business occupancy rate, calculated by the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, declined from 95 percent in 2016 to 93 percent in 2018.
Among those business which closed, most casualties were seen in the number of restaurants which declined from 77 in 2016 to 71 in 2018.
Growth of Asian restaurants
Despite the volatile nature of restaurant businesses, there’s an increasing number of Asian restaurants which opened during the recent years, including places such as Cha House.
Among 71 restaurants opened in 2018, 11.3 percent of them are Asian restaurants compared to 10.4 percent in 2016. Such increase is relevant to the increasing Asian community living in Chapel Hill.
“The variety there is incredible and it is variety that I believe is missing from American-style foods,” said Andy Adkisson, the owner of Cha House.
“So, when you have even the smallest influx of Asians into a community, along with them will come some traditional foods because those spices and aromas are dear to their hearts. To the Westerners it’s new and exciting, and to the Asians, it’s a taste of home. A win-win. Variety matters, and the Asian community does it very well.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Asians constitute 12.7 percent of the population in Chapel Hill while only 3.1 percent of the population in North Carolina are Asians.
Landess praised for the willingness of Asian business owners in Chapel Hill to serve their community and the diversity they bring to downtown Chapel Hill.
“One of the thing that makes downtown unique is that it has a lot of things for different types of people,” Landess said. “Whether you are a student, an alumni, or a long-term resident, you can always find the restaurant you want.”
The future of downtown Chapel Hill
Landess also talked about new businesses and construction ongoing. She was excited that the cat cafe would open soon on Franklin Street despite the permitting hiccup it encountered.
At the end of the conversation, Landess stated that the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership was looking for a new executive director who would start his position in January.
“It will be a game changer. He will be able to marshal resources and provide strategic suggestion about business development and extension in the future,” Landess said.
