Moxie Mercantile is opening a third location

Details: The roughly 2,700-square-foot shop will be the third and largest location, which opened in 2015 on Commonwealth Avenue. It’s at 159 N. Trade Street, in a historic building that used to be home to an interior design firm.

• The store will sell vintage art and jewelry, plus an expanded inventory of apparel and goods from brands like Brooklyn Candle and Farm Rio.

Zoom out: Moxie Mercantile is a local favorite that adds to Plaza Midwood’s personality. Owner Michelle Castelloe, a former Anthropologie brand director, knows many of her customers by name. In 2018, she opened a Moxie Mercantile location in Davidson.

• Over the years, Moxie Mercantile has grown despite new development elsewhere in Plaza Midwood that’s pushed many longstanding businesses out. [Go deeper]

Why it matters: The pandemic has crippled the retail industry, both locally and nationally, leading to widespread closures and bankruptcies. But Moxie Mercantile has held on, thanks to community support, Castelloe says. When she closed the stores for nearly three months last spring, she began delivering directly to customers.

“The community really embraced that. If they hadn’t, I don’t know how we would have survived,” she says. “With the pandemic there came this focus on hyperlocal businesses.”

• Despite the store closure last spring, sales were flat in 2020 from 2019 thanks to a sizable increase in sales in the third and fourth quarters, Castelloe says.

Studio space: In addition to the main retail portion of the store, the new Matthews Moxie Mercantile will also have a 100-square-foot space available for sublease to a local up-and-coming vendor, according to the retailer. At Plaza Midwood, Castelloe has offered this option for young companies like Grow Charlotte.

Matthews vendors interested in the space can apply here. Here’s a look around the new store (photos courtesy of Moxie Mercantile):