grow
December 2017 JUNE 2018
a greensboro chamber of commerce publication
Vol. 1, Issue #3
SHOP LOCAL
this summer
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The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce is the largest business organization in the community serving more than 1,000 member businesses through programming designed to help them succeed and grow. A partner in the Guilford County Economic Development Alliance, the Chamber also serves as Greensboro primary economic development organization, with special emphasis placed on community and entrepreneurial advancement through Action Greensboro and Launch Greensboro.
grow
IN THIS ISSUE june 2018
a greensboro chamber of commerce publication
Shop + Spend Local Guide
Publisher Brent Christensen bchristensen@greensboro.org
There are so many local establishments in the city of Greensboro. From shops to restaurants to services, there is a local choice for everything you need.
Editor Megan Mabry mmabry@greensboro.org
This summer, we’re challenging you to explore your local options. Maybe you’ll discover a new favorite, or revisit a classic!
Freelance Writer/Feature Articles Eddie Huffman Photography/Graphic Design Bryelle Dafeldecker bdafeldecker@greensboro.org
grow is published quarterly by the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce for the distribution to its investors, members, and other interested parties. The publication is written and edited by the Chamber and editorial decisions are made by its staff. The views expressed in grow should not be interpreted as the official policy of the Chamber. The publisher reserves the right to decline advertising considered unsuitable for publication.
Advertising Kathi Lester klester@greensboro.org
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Greensboro fights back against cyber threats by Eddie Huffman
ARTICLES BY EDDIE HUFFMAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRYELLE DAFELDECKER
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THIS SUMMER, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO VISIT A LOCAL
RESTAURANT, SHOP AT AN INDEPENDENT STORE, OR CHOOSE A LOCAL OPTION FOR A SERVICE YOU NEED! GREENSBORO HAS WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR!
Use this guide for a handful of local options to explore! This is only a small sampling of the many local gems Greenboro has to offer! Click for a full listing of Chamber Members (many of which are locally owned and operated!)
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CHEESECAKES BY ALEX
315 S. Elm St. cheesecakesbyalex.com
The story has been widely told about how Alex Amoroso spent months perfecting his technique for making cheesecakes, using relatives as taste testers. Cheesecakes by Alex has been featured in Our State magazine and other print and TV media outlets. Amoroso opened his shop in 2003, taking a chance on downtown Greensboro before its resurgence, helping to lure people back to the center city. “We’ve been here since the beginning of the renaissance,” Amoroso says. “I don’t think I’d have started it anywhere else.” Three years ago Cheesecakes by Alex expanded into an adjacent space. Its wholesale business now extends all the way to the North Carolina coast, and Amoroso is looking into opening a second Triad storefront, probably in Winston-Salem. “The company’s grown a lot,” Amoroso says. “I’ve got so many people who have been with me for such a long time – they were in high school when they started, and now they’re up in management and helping me run the
place.”
DEEP ROOTS MARKET
600 N. Eugene St. deeprootsmarket.coop
The importance of healthy food and lifestyles hit home with Nicole Villano when she worked with obese children in a group home. “I would notice a huge shift in their attitude and behavior when I would feed them healthy food and take them outdoors hiking and biking,” she says. “I was thinking, ‘Hey, there’s some magic here.’” Now Villano applies that magic to the people of Greensboro through Deep Roots Market, where she serves as general manager. The cooperative store began as a vegetarian buying club at Guilford College in the 1960s and opened its first retail location in 1976. For the past five years it has been the only grocery store in downtown Greensboro. The member-owner model of Deep Roots and other co-ops is more sustainable than purely profit-driven corporations, Villano believes. “We have a platform for over 100 local farmers and producers,” she says. “Being surrounded by the best of the community is a thrill for me.”
Havana Phil’s 1628 Battleground Ave.
havanaphils.com People buy cigars at Havana Phil’s on Battleground Avenue and enjoy smoking them there, but you won’t find the proverbial smoke-filled room in the shop’s three lounges. “I do not like smoking a cigar in a smoke-filled room,” says Phil Segal, the retailer’s namesake and a former executive with Worth Chemical, his family’s business. “It’s just not pleasant.” A sophisticated air-handling system brings in fresh air regularly, leaving the lounges “smelling good, but not smoky,” he says. The most upscale lounge is sponsored by Davidoff of Geneva, which Segal describes as “the Rolex of cigars.” It’s a private lounge with memberships starting at $500 a year. Segal first turned his hobby into a business in the late 2000s, then spent hundreds of thousands of dollars renovating the former Cellar Anton’s restaurant building, relocating there in 2016. Its amenities include a 450-square-foot walk-in humidor lined with Spanish cedar.
Emily L Roses
emilylroses.com It’s one thing to tell people about rose petals printed with words or pictures. But showing them in person really catches people’s attention, according to James Latta. “It’s so much easier when I have something in my hand I can pass on to someone, than try to explain,” he says. “It just makes a world of difference having a live example of something we can do. Even then we get reactions like, ‘That’s a real flower?’” Latta lost his previous job as a retail manager during a corporate restructuring, but he had already taken steps toward a career change. He started Emily L Roses around the beginning of 2018, naming the flower business after his late mother. It’s a franchise from a Utah company called Speaking Roses that specializes in printing on flowers. “Right now we’re in the phase of just letting folks know we’re in business, educating them about the possibilities,” Latta says.
HydroClean Solutions
h2ocleansolutions.com Dan Phillips and his family got more than they bargained for a couple of years ago when they bought a house and moved back home to Greensboro from Florida.“We inherited a couple of pretty disgusting trash and recycling cans,” he says. Phillips, a registered nurse, didn’t like the idea of using many gallons of water and harsh chemicals to clean them, then dumping the residue out to flow into the city’s storm drains. So he started researching options online, and what he found led to a new business: HydroClean Solutions. Homeowners contract with the company to come around periodically and clean their empty bins using a custom-built truck. A mechanical arm lifts the cans like a trash-collection truck, then blasts them with 190-degree water. The water volume is low – two to four gallons per can – but the pressure is high. “It kills 99.9 percent of the bacteria that’s in and around the trash can,” Phillips says. “It’s also a great way to bust up grease and grime. I don’t have to use any harsh chemicals at all.”
Ice Scraperz 1941 New Garden Road
icescraperz.com When Wendy and Earl Meredith decided to move back home to North Carolina from Florida, Greensboro looked like an ideal place for their new business venture: Ice Scraperz, a specialty dessert shop. They ended up finding a vacancy on New Garden Road near Battleground Avenue to introduce a new concept to Greensboro: rolled ice cream. “We had no idea what a great location it was,” Wendy says. “It’s next to a dance studio, so all the little dancers come over.” Also known as stir-fried ice cream, the concept originated in East Asia. “We opened on Memorial Day last year, and by the third day we had customers lined up out the door,” Wendy says. Their milk mix and produce come from local providers, whenever possible. They bought their first equipment in Tampa before upgrading with equipment from China after learning more about the process. Now they would like to do open a second location and franchise the business beyond Greensboro, Wendy says.
Jerusalem Market
310 S. Elm St. jerusalemarket.com/on-elm
When Easa and Omar Hanhan decided to open a branch of Jerusalem Market in downtown Greensboro a year and a half ago, they had a big head start thanks to decades of hard work by their father, Saliba. “We kept the name Jerusalem Market, because we wanted to let people know it was still the same family, recipes, and all that stuff,” Easa says. He and Omar grew up working for their father, who opened the original Jerusalem Market at Sedgefield in 1989. The brothers wanted to open a business of their own, and decided a central location would appeal to the many customers who drove long distances to the original. Easa handles the front of the house, while Omar uses the experience he gained cooking in New York and Hong Kong to manage the kitchen. “We grew up in the city and saw downtown neglected,” Easa says. “It’s nice to know that it’s coming around.”
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Just Be 352 S. Elm St.
onlyjustbe.com
Triad Stage and other theaters showcase the talent of local actors, writers, and directors. The Blind Tiger and other venues showcase the talent of local musicians. To check out the work of local artisans who make jewelry, clothing, and other items, one good option is Just Be. “We support close to 60 local artisans, and about 20 fair-trade partners,” says Sarah-Margaret Church, owner of Just Be since 2011. “I think supporting local artisans, the money going back into our community, is really important.” The colorful shop at the corner of Elm and McGee streets sells earrings, necklaces, bracelets, dresses, scarves, bags, toys, and decorative items. Just Be originally opened in 2005, and Church bought the business after earning an art degree from UNC-Greensboro. The city, she says, “has a big community vibe. People support local businesses and local artists, and that’s why our customers shop with us.”
Renaissance Community Co-op
2517 Phillips Ave.
renaissancecoop.com They called it a food desert. Northeast Greensboro had not had a proper grocery store in 18 years. A coalition of residents and nonprofit organizations teamed up with the city to create a grocery owned by its customers, Renaissance Community Co-op, which opened its doors in 2016. “It was built to support and be available to a lot of low-income families out here, mostly people of color, and many without transportation,” says Mike Sakellaridis, general manager. “They wanted to have a convenient grocery store in the area that would require less time commitment for somebody who had to take the bus or get a ride, and it would have all the food they want at great prices.” The 10,000-square-foot store features fresh produce and meat and a full-service deli. Sakellaridis was hired in the fall of 2017, moving to Greensboro from California to help overcome some growing pains and attract additional shoppers. “I think awareness is probably our biggest struggle right now,” he says. “There’s just so much noise, as far as marketing goes, that to get noticed you’ve got to push from a lot of directions.”
Scuppernong Books
304 S. Elm St. scuppernongbooks.com
Looking for one of the South’s best bookstores? Look no farther than downtown Greensboro. Southern Living magazine ranked Scuppernong Books among the best in 2016. “Greensboro’s burgeoning downtown community didn’t feel complete without an independent bookstore,” the magazine wrote. Brian Lampkin and Steve Mitchell agreed. They teamed up to create Scuppernong, which opened its doors in December 2013. They had gotten to know each other through the literary world, where Lampkin discovered Mitchell’s writing while working as assistant editor of the N.C. Literary Review. “Steve and I often say we couldn’t live in a city without an independent bookstore,” says Lampkin, who ran a bookstore in Buffalo, N.Y., for 15 years. He and Mitchell recently helped organize the inaugural Greensboro Bound Literary Festival, which brought more than 70 authors to town for three days of events in May. The diversity of writers and participants mirrored the diversity Lampkin appreciates running a downtown business. “I do find downtown Greensboro this middle ground for lots of different people,” he says.
Spencer’s Vintage and
Fine Furnishings
225 Summit Ave.
The names may be similar, but Spencer’s Vintage and Fine Furnishings is nothing like the place in the mall that sells T-shirts and novelty items. This Spencer’s specializes in furniture, jewelry, and miscellaneous items, such as lamps and accessories. “It started as a hobby of mine,” says Irish Gaymon-Spencer, a collector of fine items who began selling out of a shop on Summit Avenue in early April. Her background is in public relations and marketing. Gaymon-Spencer has a doctorate in business, and ran a nonprofit organization and worked in management in radio broadcasting before opening Spencer’s. “Downtown Greensboro has just exploded,” she says. “To be in the midst of that is super exciting.” Gaymon-Spencer’s husband is a Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, and she likes having a shop just across the street from Greensboro’s veterans’ memorial. The vintage building provided an ideal space to showcase her wares. “I fell in love with the 1922 floors,” Gaymon-Spencer says.
The Table on Elm 227 S. Elm St.
thetablefarmbakery.com/greensboro After two and a half years in business, The Table in Asheboro was becoming the victim of its own success. The eatery, bakery and coffee shop needed more space just for baking. Fortunately, they found a place in downtown Greensboro that had housed two bakeries and already had all the equipment they needed in place. The Table on Elm was born. “I saw the potential in that quaint little alley and storefront, and felt like I could redo the front to feel like The Table as an extension of us in Asheboro,” says Dustie Gregson, who owns and operates the businesses with her husband, Andy. Where the Asheboro location is a sit-down eatery, The Table on Elm is more of a grab-and-go shop, Gregson says. Greensboro has been a good place to do business. “People have loved having a bakery downtown,” Gregson says. “People here have been so kind and have embraced us.”
Services Offered Top 2 Bottom Cleaning Services
t2bcnc.com
The year was 2004, and Michael McNair couldn’t find a house-cleaning service that met all his needs. So he decided to start his own: Top 2 Bottom Cleaning Services, which serves homes and businesses around the Triad. “I fit well in the service industry, because quality control is my background,” McNair says. “I have a degree in industrial engineering from North Carolina A&T, so I really focus on quality.” He has a hand in several other businesses, as well: MAC Pub, a Christian publishing company; Prominence Funeral Services in Thomasville; and Wings and Things, a food truck that started operations in 2017 and “took the Triad by storm,” McNair says. The Gate City offers a supportive environment for entrepreneurs, he says. “I wouldn’t trade Greensboro for anything,” McNair says. “It’s the best place for business, it’s the best place for family. It’s well rounded for education. You just can’t beat it.”
Residential Cleaning
Commercial Cleaning
DUSTING/CLEAN Ceilings Entry Doors & Door Frames Vanities Cabinets Mirrors Baseboards Window Frames, Sills & Blinds Ceiling Fans
Empty Trash
BEDROOMS Change Linens Fold clothes
OFFICES: Dusting ceilings Internal window frames, sills, & blinds Cleaning every desk & chair Ceiling Fans Vacuuming & Mopping floors & baseboards Doors & Door Frames
BATHROOMS Clean Shower, Tub and Toilets Mirrors Clean Vanities & Sinks FLOORS Vacuum all Floors Mop all hardwood & tile floors KITCHEN Wash dishes Clean inside & outside of appliances Wipe out Stove (if cleaning cycle has been started) Stove
Top Dusting of whole building Wiping/Dusting walls & baseboards Vacuuming & Mopping hallway & entrance floors
BATHROOMS: Top 2 Bottom Dusting ceilings Stall Walls Toilets Sinks & Mirrors Mop Floors Doors & Door Frames Break rooms/ kitchenettes
White and Wood
215 S. Elm St
www.thewhiteandwood.com White and Wood’s philosophy is simple: enjoy life and treat others as you would want to be treated, with dignity and respect. These principles apply to all life’s situations, both personal and professional. At White and Wood, these principles are applied to management, associates, guests, and suppliers alike. Owners Jake and Patrick landed in Greensboro in late 2015 after living in California for over 25 years. Jake spent over 25 years working in the restaurant industy in San Francisco. He had the opportunity to work with award winning chefs and worked at many of the top restaurants in the Bay Area. Moving to Greensboro suddenly provided an opportunity where Jake could create and open a restaurant and make his dream of owning his own place to share his passion for great food, great service, and great company in an amazing environment a reality. Photography by Josh Foster Feature Sourced from White & Woods Website
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UPCOMING EVENTS State of our community
Koury Convention Center | Guilford Ballroom 3121 Gate City Blvd. Greensboro, NC AUGUST 29. 2018 | 11:45am-1:30PM The annual State of Our Community Luncheon reviews the state of business, education and community around Greensboro and Guilford County through a series of speakers around a particular topic. We’ve mentioned several times now that communities which get workforce development correct will be the communities that succeed. Well, we can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on. Come see how the state of our community has never been stronger when it comes to building a better workforce from the ground up.
COFFEE AND CONVERSATION
A monthly event from 7:30am-8:30am The public at MOrehead Foundry | 433 Spring Garden Street A Networking and Educational program designed to bring leaders together to learn about important issues facing our business community.
june Coffee & conversation
This month we will feature a look at Economic Development.
ow Sponsored by Delta Dental
july Coffee & conversation
This month we will explore the impact of the NC Folk Festival.
Sponsorship for July’s Coffee and Conversation is still available! Call Kathi Lester at 336.387.8326 if interested!
SAVE THE DATE
eensboro chamber of commerce publication
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