The owner of Reid's Fine Foods, an upscale grocery store that left its uptown location last year, said the store is reopening Tuesday at the Selwyn Corners shopping center. And a private equity firm announced it has bought Charlotte-based Firebirds, a Colorado-inspired chain of wood-fired grills.
Reid's closed last year after its former owner claimed the economy was hurting sales. The old 13,500-square-foot store at the Seventh Street Station is scheduled to open in July as a food market with around 30 vendors.
The new Reid's, owned by Tom Coker, will be near Selwyn Avenue and Colony Road. The store will have specialty foods, including a butcher shop, deli and bakery, and will also offer gifts, fine wines and cooking classes.
In restaurant news, Firebirds has been sold to Angelo, Gordon & Co, a New York-based private equity firm that manages over $24 billion. Firebirds, which was founded in 2000, operates three Charlotte restaurants and 15 other locations from Alabama to Delaware.
Angelo Gordon said that Firebirds co-founders Dennis Thompson and Doug Glendenning will stay on as directors and shareholders of the company, and Mark Eason will remain Firebirds CEO. The deal's terms were not disclosed, but Angelo Gordon said it's private equity arm focuses on investments ranging from $50 to $500 million.
"Firebirds has all the hallmarks of a great restaurant company and is comparable to the best I’ve worked with over the past 15 years as a restaurant investor," said Angelo Gordon managing director Richard Leonard, in a statement. "They’ve built a great company and we think Firebirds will be successful across a wide range of geographies and markets. Our plan is to help the company grow significantly by adding locations over the next several years."
I hope that under Reid's new ownership, their customer service will radically improve!
ReplyDeleteWouldn't have to do much to be a radical improvement.
ReplyDeleteI heard they rehired the management from the old store...bodes bad!
ReplyDelete"New" ownership not entirely true, hence hiring of previous management team. Legal reasons for current "ownership" configuration.
ReplyDeleteYes; the Richards will still be involved. Which could be good or bad. But neither ever compares to the original location on Providence when I was a kid.
ReplyDeletechuck richards had the train drop off passengers at his front door, and he still failed
ReplyDeleteBut yet, the new owners rehired the upper management - not the Richards -from the Uptown store. If it failed there what makes them think that the managers would be any more talented or skilled in the new Myers Park store. A sinking ship is a sinking ship.
ReplyDeleteParking is already awful at that center. Reid's will only make it worse. I went to the restaurant last week, at night, and had to wait for 20 minutes to find a parking space. Reid's will not be worth the wait.
ReplyDeleteI agree -- the parking is awful. Do be careful about parking in the other lots nearby -- you may be towed or booted.
ReplyDeleteThey really didn't plan well with that location.
Nice if an Observer columnist would know the difference between "its" and "it's" at this point in his life!
ReplyDeleteWell, unless the author went back and modified the post, "its" is correct the 2 times it's used.
ReplyDeleteIt's means it is or it has. Its is possessive. So no it's is not used correctly in this story.
ReplyDeleteDean & DeLuca wannabe's.
ReplyDeleteDean & Deluca at least has a place to park and quality products to back it up. People should go to the New York Butcher shop across the street if they want good food and good options. They are a lot more than a butcher shop.
ReplyDeleteHow many more times is the Observer going to run the article about Chuck "Mr. Charlotte" Richards??? I have seen it now online 4 times. Puhleeze??? The truth will set you free.
ReplyDelete