WSTB

K-Stop Korean opening https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl1Ps9rg22Z ... JhMjlhZTc=

Where is this?

3872 Oxford Station Way - near Firebirds and Buffalo Wild Wings in the Hanes Mall Blvd. sprawl district I try to avoid.

K-Stop

https://ibb.co/Nt6LGwh

City BBQ, a chain out of Columbus Ohio, is requesting rezoning of a lot on Jonestown Road at the former site of Oso Eats. City BBQ has locations in several states and currently has 11 restaurants in NC, including GSO & HP.

www.citybbq.com

Seems like pretty much the same concept as Honky Tonk Smokehouse, located a couple hundred yards from there.

Hmm, Ohio bbq?!

Why would you need to rezone that lot if it was already a restaurant? To serve alcohol?

Poppyseed Provisions . . . whatever that is . . . at 396 West End Blvd. is closing Feb. 28 after less than two years in business.

Needed to add drive thru as a zoning classification.

There's a City BBQ near my house: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0716123 ... 384!8i8192

And yes, we've been to that exact location in the link.

The crowd at City BBQ (near my house) includes an usually large number of seniors. Usually, restaurants in this area are younger people and families. It has a somewhat long line. If there is a group raising money, they will make a pitch as you enter at the door and you request to support them when you pay for your food. It seems more like a sandwich restaurant. Brisket is the most common thing I hear people ordering, while waiting in line. The barbecue sandwiches are good, but the fries are greasy and not that great. You can ask for whatever sauce you want. The cakes are good. Among northeast Metro Atlanta barbecue restaurants, I thought Cue was the best, which I think was started by someone who moved here from Pittsburgh, but I think it's local to northeast Metro Atlanta?

I don't see how places like this can survive in the Triad, which is known nationally as one of the top barbecue centers. People travel to the Triad from other states and maybe other countries to try the barbecue. If we had any of the amazing local barbecue restaurants the Triad has, I would never set foot in any of those chains. I do think these chains could do well in Charlotte, which also doesn't have great local barbecue.

That’s really a shame! They had a lovely little mix of prepared foods from the Porch, on-tap beers, gifts, and nibbles. And a fun outdoor space with picnic tables. They’re below the bakery and next to an artsy home decor shop (where their color palette stretches all the way from ecru to beige).

We liked walking over there but admit to not doing it enough.

RIP another gutsy effort at small business enriching pedestrian neighborhoods.

The announcement was sort of strange and vague. It states the "manager and assistant manager were leaving to pursue new adventures and to travel the world. We're currently undergoing changes with management and ownership of the shop." They go on and say everything in the store will be sold for a discount and they are excited for the future of what will be in that same space.

Sounds like most everyone involved got tired of running the place. Hopefully some iteration of the business can be revived with the addition of items/services to make it more lucrative

This is unfortunate as it was a great little spot....with VERY sweet employees!

But, I think there were a few issues:

- It's rather hidden and without much signage/exposure, so a lot of people we took there didn't even know it existed. The live music and pop-ups were great marketing attempts, but I assume the lack of heavy organic traffic weighed on them.

- As with many places in Winston, they started changing hours/closing early, which I think is a slippery slope (and often the spiral of doom). A lot of my favorite places are doing this....if you say you close at 9 pm, but start aggressively flipping chairs/cleaning around people at 8:15, then the next time I'm thinking about where to eat/drink at 8 pm, I will avoid your establishment. At some point, you will only get the early bird crowd that comes out at 6 pm and leaves 30 minutes later (and that will not sustain your once flourishing business). I am already intentionally shifting my patronage to places that actually want your money and are happy to serve you (and I expect/hope that as the labor repercussions from COVID rebound, we can go back to better days of service).

Also, I really hope the building owner fixes that massive pothole at the entrance of the parking lot - it's getting dangerous with the traffic flows!