People’s Market’s long road to reopen

Why it matters: Duran always intended for the closure to be temporary, but with the pandemic, a full year has now passed. He’s not giving up though.

Duran’s challenges in finding a space are the same challenges many small business owners face, especially Black entrepreneurs like himself.

• First step: $$$. Securing a bank loan is notoriously difficult. “Already in our industry, (banks) don’t want to take a chance on you. But if you’re Black, that’s another strike,” Leah & Louise co-owner Subrina Collier told me last fall.
• Instead of a loan, many turn to investors, but — oh yeah — we’re in a pandemic.
• From there, you have to find the right space with rent you can actually afford. Duran learned this the hard way with People’s. He got a few months behind on rent and could never catch-up despite the business turning profitable.

Still, the Charlotte native is determined to bring back the “magic” and reopen People’s Market.

Magic? Yes, Duran insists. It was a place where staff knew your name. Where first dates turned into “I dos” — quite literally for Axios’ Katie Peralta Soloff who met her now-husband Jesse there.

Duran, 43, was inspired to become an entrepreneur from Hugh McColl, former CEO of Bank of America. He heard McColl speak about 20 years ago, and one thing has always stuck with him:

“Charlotte will never be great until we put leaders in place that have the capacity to dream,” Duran recalls McColl saying.

What’s next: The hunt for the next People’s Market space continues. His pursuit of the right investor and the right space represent a larger issue entrepreneurs experience in Charlotte, especially as more “out-of-town” names enter the food and beverage scene.