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| - Oh, man! I can't wait to see what the future holds for this place. I just returned from my first trip to Philly where I fell in love with Reading Terminal Market. In describing RTM to my mom, I called it 7th Street Market on steroids. But any further comparisons wouldn't be fair. 7th Street Market has only been open for a few months, not since 1892; and it serves a much smaller city. However, I see what the planners are going for and I couldn't be more excited.
I know many lamented the closing of the Reid's Fine Foods at this location but I think uptown Charlotte needs this place far more than what amounted to little more than an expensive grocery store for people with more money than sense...er, I mean...time to cook. There's plenty of that in the city's affluent neighborhoods already. And if you find yourself uptown and really must part with $10 for a small tub of pasta salad or whatever, there's always Dean & Deluca! This sort of place is exactly what Charlotte needs (along with more extensive public transportation and urban parks) if it's ever going to live up to its "world class city" ambitions.
So far I've only stopped in briefly for a quick cappuccino from Not Just Coffee and a cinnamon roll from Cloud 9 Confections before catching the train. I must say that not only was the cappuccino excellent, but there's a lot to be said for getting it served in a mug rather than a cardboard cup for a change. Caribou and Starbucks should take note. When dining (or sipping) in, presentation matters.
Having not had a chance to do any grocery shopping yet I must reserve some judgement in that regard. I will say that from looking around, the prices seemed quite reasonable considering everything is local, organic, free-range and all those other trendy adjectives that almost always serve to raise the price of produce and meat. If the market and vendors ever decide to adopt hours of operation conducive to turning a profit, I can see myself doing quite a lot of shopping here.
I look forward to giving this place at least one more star as they grow and fill up. Improvements are needed but that's obviously to be expected for such a new market. At the moment, the only dining options are a sandwich/American place and an artisan pizza shop. If they can attract some culinary diversity and stay open a bit longer (maybe even for a few hours on Sunday) I might need to make that 5 stars.
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