Changes are coming to the South Elliott Road area in Chapel Hill, as new stores move to the area, others expand and plans are in the works to add over 58,000 square feet of office and retail space to the area.
Phydeaux will open in its new space in the Galleria on Friday. The locally owned pet supply store has been on Weaver Street in downtown Carrboro since 2002. It will move into the space that the Chapel Hill Senior Center used to occupy in the Galleria.
“We’re moving because we’re growing,†Andrew Schull, a manager at Phydeaux, said. “We just need a bigger space.†Phydeaux plans to hold more adoption events, lectures and classes taught by local trainers.
The Village Plaza Shopping Center area around Whole Foods Market is adding new stores as well. Yarns, Etc. will be opening later this week in the shopping center on the site of the old Knit a Bit shop. Quiznos is now under new management and has reopened.
Whole Foods is in the midst of another store expansion. The store will add another 11,000 square feet of space, increasing its size to over 40,000 square feet, and will update its storefront. It will use the new space to expand its produce section, café, bakery, frozen foods section and coffee bar.
The shopping center parking lot is being repaved and reconfigured and will have new lighting and landscaping. More parking will be available closer to stores and a new entry-only curb cut on the East Franklin Street side of the center will improve traffic flow. Pedestrian lanes leading to Elliott Road and Franklin Street have been set aside. Chris Shaw, who manages the shopping center, said that the first phase of the work is on schedule and work on the parking lot should be completed in three months.
The Barbecue Joint will be moving into the space formerly occupied by Branch’s Book Store in the southern half of the shopping center.
Owner Damon Lapas said that there’s still a lot of work to be done before the store can move from its present location on Weaver Dairy Road. Kitchen equipment, tables, chairs, a bar and a wood-fired grill that requires a separate fan all have to be installed.
“Optimally, if we’re open before Thanksgiving, I’ll be happy,†said Lapas.
With the move, the restaurant will increase in size from 1,400 to 3,900 square feet.
3 Cups will be reopening in Village Plaza later this fall, between VisArt and the Great Harvest Bread Company. The store will be called 3 Cups Wine … Coffee … Tea to reflect its new focus. 3 Cups left the Courtyard on West Franklin Street in June after a long fight over parking for its customers.
Eastern Federal Corporation and Mark Properties are in the early stages of developing a new office and shopping center on the site of the old Village Plaza Theater, which was torn down in 2003 to make way for a 10-screen movie theater that was never built. The proposed complex would add about 58,000 square feet of office and retail space to the area, mostly concentrated in two three-story buildings.