Can The Old Common Market Live Again?
Charlotte Magazine|January 2017

The owners are bringing the neighborhood gathering place back. Want to get there? Just walk 1,153 paces from the old spot.

Kristen Wile
Can The Old Common Market Live Again?

BEFORE LOCKING THE DOORS at Common Market in South End for the last time in late July, co-owner Chuck Barger made sure the place was spotless. He’d lovingly called it the ugliest building in South End for years, but that day, he wanted to leave it looking dignified. The shop had hosted a staff party to finish off the remaining inventory, and now, after a year of mourning the news that Common Market was closing, it was time to say goodbye.

Barger and co-owner Blake Barnes stood in the parking lot, looking at the building they’d renovated themselves and readied to open at the bottom of the recession eight years earlier. Nobody wanted to leave first. Barnes likens it to a new couple saying goodnight after a first date. 

Eventually, “We were all like, ‘OK, let’s go,’” Barnes recalls. They awkwardly pulled away.

“I had this tremendous sense of relief from having finished something,” Barger says of that last day, “because when you run this kind of business, you never really finish anything. You’re open every day, it’s more of the same. But I got this done, and we’re gonna start it over again and make it better.”

And after some downtime, starting over in South End is in motion. Barnes and Barger and their team will open a new Common Market at 235 West Tremont Avenue in the first half of 2017. And how they got there is a common Common Market story.

Esta historia es de la edición January 2017 de Charlotte Magazine.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición January 2017 de Charlotte Magazine.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE CHARLOTTE MAGAZINEVer todo
‘This Is How We're Going to Make Your Child Better'
Charlotte Magazine

‘This Is How We're Going to Make Your Child Better'

Pediatric neurosurgery is technically and emotionally complex—and traditionally dominated by men. As Novant’s first female pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Erin Kiehna Richardson has had to learn the intricacies of a demanding field and battle sexism along the way

time-read
10+ minutos  |
July 2021
The Dumbledore of CMC
Charlotte Magazine

The Dumbledore of CMC

A surgery resident wrote a series of children’s books and created a special kind of medical magic

time-read
7 minutos  |
July 2021
LGBTQ HB2+5
Charlotte Magazine

LGBTQ HB2+5

Five years after the furor of House Bill 2, the LGBTQ community—in Charlotte, in North Carolina, and across much of the nation—fights attacks on new fronts

time-read
6 minutos  |
July 2021
Oh, Snap!
Charlotte Magazine

Oh, Snap!

New ‘selfie museum’ in Concord celebrates the 1990s

time-read
5 minutos  |
July 2021
ALLISON LATOS
Charlotte Magazine

ALLISON LATOS

The WSOC anchor on her hard trek from one episode of loss and grief to another—and the meaning of resilience

time-read
7 minutos  |
July 2021
GOOD HEALTH
Charlotte Magazine

GOOD HEALTH

For years, Charlotte has been one of the largest American cities that lacked a four-year medical school. The health care professionals who finally made it happen overcame a series of setbacks, false starts, and failures, and they plan to use their clean slate to create a new kind of community asset

time-read
10+ minutos  |
July 2021
Summer Partee
Charlotte Magazine

Summer Partee

From woodwork to retail, the kindergarten teacher-turned-designer has learned how to do it herself

time-read
3 minutos  |
July 2021
Uptown or Downtown?
Charlotte Magazine

Uptown or Downtown?

Archives illuminate how long we’ve argued over the perennial question

time-read
3 minutos  |
July 2021
NOW OPEN NOVEL ITALIAN
Charlotte Magazine

NOW OPEN NOVEL ITALIAN

Paul Verica brings a simpler version of the city’s hottest food trend to NoDa

time-read
3 minutos  |
July 2021
TOP DOCTORS 2021
Charlotte Magazine

TOP DOCTORS 2021

The annual list you can't without

time-read
10+ minutos  |
July 2021