Chapelboro’s “Mind Your Business” series summarizes some of the latest stories, announcements, and updates from businesses in the community every three months. From local openings to closings to everything in-between, we are sharing a snapshot of what’s happened in the most recent quarter of the calendar year.
The report will roughly go in chronological order of the developments, and will conclude with a section of any general updates on ongoing projects that are undated. The previous edition, covering October through December 2025, can be found here.
Do you see something that is missing or want to share an update about your own business? Get in touch with us by emailing news@wchl.com with your announcements!
JANUARY
• One of the first businesses to close in 2026 came over in Carrboro, as Grata Diner wound down its operations in December and formally closed on Jan. 4. The brainchild of Jay Radford operated in Carr Mill Mall for a little more than four years, offering patrons upscale, locally-sourced breakfast and diner fare. In a message to the eatery’s email list, Radford said he was closing the diner to focus more on Grata Connects, his nonprofit focused on helping connect vulnerable community members to the necessary resources for long-term stability. Initially called Grata Cafe, the business took over the space occupied by Elmo’s Diner for 19 years before the beloved restaurant closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Meanwhile, one of the first businesses to open in the new year is a local branch of Children’s Art Classes, which began welcoming students on Jan. 5 to its location in Chapel Hill’s Timberlyne Village shopping center. The nationwide offer art classes, camps and workshops to children of all ages, as well as some adult options, through a monthly subscription meant to establish and grow basic artistic skills.
• Back Nine Golf became Chapel Hill’s first indoor golf simulator after opening on Jan. 9. The business at 227 South Elliott Road, which is the space left vacant in Elliott Square after Market Street Coffeehouse closed in 2020, offers full-swing simulator spaces that can reserved for private rounds and lessons, as well as used for leagues and tournaments.
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• The first quarter of 2026 saw several businesses impacted by Tropical Depression Chantal in 2025 re-open their doors. For the Chapel hill location of Wake Radiology UNC Health Rex, that meant at a new home — as the medical imaging business moved from South Estes Drive to 120 Banks Drive in a suite previously occupied by Raleigh Radiology. The first patients visited the expanded space on Jan. 12 before holding a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony in February. In addition to Wake Radiology’s typical screening machines, the Chapel Hill location plans to add a CT machine later this year.
Wake Radiology COO Parul Galloway (left) and President Dr. Brent Townsend (right) hold the scissors and prepare to cut the ribbon at a ceremony celebrating the business’ new Chapel Hill location on Feb. 19. (Photo by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.)
• After putting the finishing touches on the building the end of 2025, H&H Bagels opened its first North Carolina location in Chapel Hill’s University Place on Jan. 15. The New York-based bagel shop chain held a grand opening with lots of giveaways to customers, who lined up to try the food and snag gifts through the entire first weekend. H&H Bagels is another addition to the mall amid its ongoing reimagining, and is located in a newly-constructed space built alongside others that front U.S. 15-501.
• The café and gelato shop La Vita Dolce announced its plans to move within Southern Village in early January, teasing that it would transition to the old Market and Moss space. Annie Johnston owned and operated both businesses, and the move will give La Vita Dolce more space for operations while getting it even closer to the center of the Southern Village Green.
• The locally-owned AP Creative Designs completed its rebranding to Vivid Thistle Studio in mid-January with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house for Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro members. Founder and Creative Director Amy Pruitt’s studio is run out of Glen Lennox’s Industrious building in Chapel Hill and has helped several other Triangle-area businesses create their own original designs and logos.
• Another one of Eastgate Crossing’s tenants returned to business on Jan. 27: The Loop restaurant, which sits on the southern side of the shopping center that was heavily affected by Tropical Depression Chantal’s flooding in July 2025. The Loop sent its staff to work over at its Durham location amid renovations, which included updating the seating area’s design to fit more with the chain’s latest branding.
FEBRUARY
• During the new year, the sign for Tandoor Indian Restaurant at 1301 East Franklin Street suddenly changed to say Naan Indian Fine Dining. In February, Carrie Brogren of the Chapel Hill Carrboro Foodies Group posted that the restaurant was rebranding under new ownership, with a Business Debut report in March saying Triangle restauranteur Baljeet Singh is running the space alongside her husband, Gulshan. The concept will be a lunch and dinner spot with upscale dining from the North India region, which features lots of breads, curries and powerful blends of spices. The restaurant was targeting a March opening, but has not formally opened its doors to customers yet.
• As part of the local Black History Month celebrations and recognition, the Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro held its first coordinated Spend Week to help direct customers toward BIPOC-owned and operated businesses. In addition to pop-up events at the Flying Pierogi, Tonya’s Cafe and Carolina Car Wash, the chamber also created Spend Week Bingo cards that highlighted a dozen other businesses through the week of Feb. 16.
• Kipos Greek Taverna returned to operations in Eastgate Crossing after months of restoration following Chantal’s flooding last summer. Located in the back corner of the shopping center, the restaurant suffered severe water damage, but worked hard to welcome customers back on Feb. 21. Kipos also added back its lunch and brunch hours after initially restarting service just for dinner.
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• When the Chapel Hill Planet Fitness relocated to South Elliott Road at the end of 2025, many wondered what would eventually fill the space. The answer: a store that will take up all that room, and then some within the main University Place retail building. On Feb. 25, the mall shared the popular book and entertainment store Barnes & Noble will eventually join its storefronts and use 19,000-square feet within the anchor building. Another business joining University Place shared in that announcement, Bliss Nail Spa, which will be on the southeastern side in a storefront near Jeni’s Ice Cream.
• When the nonprofit CommunityWorx announced it would be shutting down operations and transitioning its thrift shop to a different ownership, speculation began about which organization would step into the role. The answer, as revealed in January, was Extraordinary Ventures — the nonprofit that aims to provide jobs to neurodivergent community members and advocates for them to join the broader workforce. EV took over the 125 West Main Street thrift shop and held a grand opening celebration on Feb. 27.
Shoppers explore Extraordinary Thrift Store’s expanded clothing section following the ribbon cutting on Feb. 27. (Image via Henry Taylor/Chapel Hill Media Group)
MARCH
• The breakfast restaurant Snooze reopened following flood restoration in the Eastgate Crossing shopping center to start off March. The Colorado-based eatery had planned to hold a soft opening and benefit day for PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro on Feb. 28, but shifted its focus to its first full day of business on Mar. 1.
• After the Chatham County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting celebration for Skyline Exterior Group on Mar. 6, the roofing and exterior repair business had a great month. The Raleigh-based business became officially licensed as a contractor through the state and later completed its first free roof installation in its 1 per 100 program to help military veterans.
• One of Eastgate Crossing’s bigger box stores returned to operations on Mar. 7, with Petco holding a grand reopening. As part of the celebration, customers and their pets got goodie bags, snacks, pet adoption opportunities and various discounts on pet supplies or grooming appointments.
• For many years, 203 South Greensboro Street in Carrboro was an address many kept an eye on as the Drakeford Library Complex was built. Now, there’s a lot of work happening at 203 North Greensboro Street — where a new coffee shop is renovating a 1920s building and preparing to open later this year. BRIDGE Coffee revealed its business plans in early March, rolling out renderings and social media videos of the work being done to create a cozy cafe space with plenty of parking near Carr Mill Mall.
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• The local chamber held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Mar. 9 for the concessions business Eats2Seats’ relocation within downtown Chapel Hill. The venture — which started as a class project at UNC and has grown into serving dozens of venues across the country — moved from a co-working space within the Innovate Carolina Junction building to a permanent spot within entrepreneurial space The PITCH. The move means Eats2Seats now has its headquarters in the top office of the 152 West Franklin Street building, the business will go forward with adding 41 new local jobs, and the Chapel Hill community gets to keep the type of local start up it has tried to retain in recent years.
• After eight years of operating as a meat market and grocery store, Steve’s Garden Market and Butchery in Hillsborough switched gears. The business rebranded to Steve’s Deli, Bakery & Café to focus more on its café operations after introducing the concept a few months ago. In a lengthy Facebook post on Mar. 16, the business’ owners shared how financially challenging the fresh meat industry had become for their team and their decision to invest instead in bakery operations. Now, the 610 North Churton Street business has fully pivoted to serving breakfast and lunch options alongside its coffee creations.
• Luna Rotisserie and Taproom closed to customers on Mar. 8 after six years at the 307 East Main Street storefront in Carrboro. But the space will not stay inactive for very long. Roughly a week earlier, the Raleigh-based barbecue restaurant Longleaf Swine announced it would be moving into the space during the spring and aiming to open its third Triangle location in the fall. Once the Carrboro restaurant is ready to go, customers can expect to find Longleaf Swine’s typical menu of smoked meat sandwiches and platters, as well as Southern cooking sides and top-shelf bourbon options.
• Shifting from restaurant news to vehicle manufacturing… After several years of radio silence on the plans for building out a factory at a heavy industrial-zoned site in Chatham County, Vietnamese electric car company VinFast filed for new permits with the county government to restart construction in March. The update came as the company shared its quarterly earnings report, where VinFast reported losing just less than $3.9 billion during the 2025 fiscal year. Notably, the new permits filed with the county account for a smaller plant with a significantly smaller staff (7,500 new jobs down to 1,400 new jobs) and came as the EV company was approaching a deadline for the state government to potentially buy the land back because of the lack of any production at the site. For now, VinFast says it aims to have the vehicle manufacturing plant complete in 2028.
VinFast’s 1,700-acre tract at Triangle Innovation Point near Moncure, taken in 2023. (Image via The Chatham News & Record)
• The Zaxby’s franchise on Franklin Street unceremoniously closed up shop in March, falling just short of one year of operations in Chapel Hill. The fast-food chicken chain was operating out of 127 East Franklin Street, which formerly housed Capriotti’s sandwich shop and Waffle House.
• After preparing to open to customers for months in Chapel Hill’s Timberlyne Shopping Center, Yodith’s Cakery held its grand opening celebration on Mar. 28. The business has long been on the list of Durham caterers for weddings and parties, but is now branching out to a brick and mortar location at 1129 Weaver Dairy Road to better create custom desserts for any occasion and offer fresh baked goods. Yodith’s Cakery is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
• Fans of the Root Cellar in Chatham County: don’t worry if you swing by the Pittsboro cafe and find it closed. The business recently shared an update saying the Suttles Road location would be closed from Mar. 28 through Apr. 7 as Chef Sera Cuni takes a much-deserved vacation. The Chapel Hill location of the Root Cellar off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is still open and operating during the hiatus.
UPCOMING
• The Chapel Hill Farmers Market is preparing to shift its Saturday hours and add its typical Tuesday market with spring now here. Starting on Apr. 4, the market’s Saturday hours will be from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and the Tuesday markets will begin on Apr. 7 (3 p.m. to 6 p.m.) Additionally, the University Place mall is adding other programming around its grounds to usher in spring. An upcoming egg hunt for Easter, as well as a wreath-making workshop and Earth Day celebration are all planned for April.
• Beer lovers, mark your calendars for Apr. 25. The Wooden Nickel in Hillsborough has the distinction of being one of 31 U.S. locations (and the only one in North Carolina) taking part in Zwanze Day. The event is a special beer release coordinated through Cantillon Brewery in Belgium, which has taken place roughly every year since 2008. This year, Hillsborough gets in on the action, with the Wooden Nickel staff tapping two kegs of new brews simultaneously with the other participants around the world. The party is going to close part of the King Street parking lot to create space for the kegs and crowds.
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• The latest venture from Giorgios Lifestyle and Hospitality Group and Chef Dan Jackson should be arriving before too long in Chapel Hill. Géos Tavern & Oyster Bar will take over the former Tobacco Road and NoDa taproom space at 1118 Environ Way in the East 54 development. Jackson described the concept to 97.9 The Hill in January as “more of a community effort” to fill the bigger space, with the goal of opening creating a comforting tavern atmosphere and opening it this spring. The chef heads up Giogios Bakatsias’ Italian restaurant Osteria Georgi, with the Giorgios group also running the nearby Bin Fifty-Four and Kipos in Chapel Hill.
• West Rosemary Street may have a new option for ice cream in the coming months. Jack Cody of Twin Suns Tattoos — which has a shop in the 400 West Rosemary building — shared the first post from a new social media account called Twin Scoops Chapel Hill and teased that he’s working on opening an ice cream shop in the same building.
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Featured photo via Kipos Greek Taverna.
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