PJ's Coffee and Lounge Is Closing

I just got word that PJ's Coffee and Lounge is going out of business soon. I find this surprising, because just about every time I've been there or passed by, it's had a good-sized, if not packed, crowd. But come to think of it, those were always night times. If I had to venture a guess, I would think that PJ's struggled with dayside business. It would open at 6:30 a.m. during the week to capture the breakfast crowd and coffee drinkers en route to work. But while the EpiCentre is a magnet for nightlife, I can't see it drawing many people during the morning and lunchtime hours. With PJ's being open as many as 20 hours a day, they would literally need customers coming in around the clock.


PJ's Coffee and Lounge opened in October 2008, and I wrote about it a few months later in Charlotte magazine ("Night, Joe"). It's a trendy bar that takes on a cool vibe once night strikes, and it became a favorite of mine at the EpiCentre as a good place to stop and hang for about an hour in between bar hopping. But I soon replaced it for that purpose with w xyz bar inside the aloft Hotel, which is also at the EpiCentre.

Even PJ's once-jazzy website is now parked by GoDaddy, and that's never a good sign.

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A Lot At 'Steak'

In late November I pitched a story idea to my editor of Charlotte Hospitality News on all the upscale steakhouses that we have in Charlotte, from the ones that have been around for more than ten years to the ones that had opened in the past year. What I wanted to explore was whether or not this city could support that many high-end restaurants, particularly now that we were in a recession. My article was published in January, and since then the steakhouses have taken a hit.

Morton's Steakhouse in SouthPark closed about two weeks after my article came out (the one in uptown is still open) and this past weekend McIntosh's in South End closed. Each of those restaurants were covered in the article, as were Sullivan's and Chima, and I mentioned the host of others: The Palm, Ruth's Chris, Del Frisco's, and Fleming's. I don't know how all of those places are doing, but I do know that Sullivan's recently had some turnover in management. And, coincidentally, I stopped in at Chima Friday night to go to their upstairs bar/lounge and they'd closed it at 10 p.m. I'm pretty sure the reason they closed the lounge early was because there weren't many people in there (the downstairs dining room was still open).

I know this recession has us all being more frugal with our spending, but I'd hate to see us lose too many of our finest restaurants. Charlotte's restaurant scene has become one of the best in the South and most of that progress can be attributed to the last decade, along with most of the city's other growth. So ignore those Chick-fil-A cows and get out and eat more steak. You'll actually find that many of the steakhouses are offering more food and drink specials than ever, some of which is discussed in the article below.

(Click image for larger view and full article.)

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Is Ballantyne Village Becoming a Ghost Town?

I was in Ballantyne Village yesterday and even though I only visited one side of the retail and dining complex, I noticed three businesses were closed. I knew that Table Restaurant and Bar was closed because it permanently shut its doors in May. But I was surprised to see that It's A Grind coffeehouse and Vesuvio Restaurant and Lounge weren't open and this was clearly during their normal business hours. I can't say for sure what's happened to these two places, but It's A Grind's windows were all covered up and Vesuvio's phone number isn't working (and neither of the places are listed on BV's website).

I hadn't been to Ballantyne Village in a few months so maybe this isn't new news, but it's new to me. And I have a hunch that had I walked around the village a little more I would've seen a few more businesses closed. It's filled with specialty shops and those are often the first to go when people start cutting back during a tough economy like this. But at the same time, a Dilworth Coffee and D'Vine Wine Cafe are both scheduled to open there in the next month or two, so who knows what the future holds.

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No Place For 'Hom'

I emailed an event sponsor this morning about an event that seemed to have been moved from Hom to Suite. She emailed me back saying that the event has been moved to Suite because Hom closed this week. Wow!

Hom, the once-popular and very swank nightclub that's "home" to three levels known as Liv, Feast, and Play, lasted 14 months. I blame its closing largely on two things: the bad economy and the EpiCentre. The economy has people being more frugal and selective with their spending dollars. And the EpiCentre (the massive entertainment complex that houses Suite, Whisky River, BlackFinn, PJ's Coffee Lounge, Wild Wing Cafe, EpiCentre Theatres, the StrikeCity bowling alley that just opened a few days ago, and several other places that are too many to name) has partiers not wanting to leave College Street.

Liv, the bottom level at Hom, is the lounge.

Feast, the middle level at Hom, is the eatery.

Play, the top level at Hom, is the dance club.

The downward spiral of the economy and the ascension of EpiCentre were beyond Hom's control, but the nightclub has to bear some of the responsibility for its own undoing. The last time I partied at Hom was on New Year's Eve. My friends and I had a fairly good time, all things considered. All clubs are packed on NYE so I don't expect things to be perfect. But Hom struggled handling the large crowd, particularly at Feast where many people, including my date and I, had purchased the dinner package (we never did get our champagne). But to make amends, the manager of the club emailed everyone a couple of weeks later who had paid for that special package apologizing for the poor service and offering us gold membership for a year that guaranteed free admission to Hom for a year. I thought that was a great gesture, because I think any business can overcome a bad night if they show customers how much they appreciate their business. Looks like I won't be able to enjoy that gold membership now, though.

Also, unfortunately, there were ongoing complaints I would hear from people about the service at Hom being rude, particularly the doormen. I never experienced that. I think people sometimes too easily get offended by doormen, but one thing I'll give Hom credit for is that they kept the club from attracting the wrong crowds like their predecessor Menage did. If you're projecting your business as an upscale establishment then you must continue to attract upscale clientele. But you must also balance that delicately. I think many people felt that Hom was trying to be a little too exclusionary.

But a lot of this still comes down to the effects of the economy. No industry is immune from it. I wrote a news article last month about Charlotte's abundance of upscale steakhouses and how they were addressing this recession. One steakhouse manager put it perfectly: “There’s no room for mediocrity anymore. Whether or not a restaurant is going to make it in a bad economy or good economy—a good economy only prolongs the inevitable, which is someone’s going to go out of business if they don’t do a good job."

Hom is/was one of the best-designed clubs in Charlotte. The guys that transformed it from Menage to Hom spared no expense. I can't see this place staying closed for too long. But whoever tries to run it is going to have an uphill battle. As I've said on this blog repeatedly, Charlotte has more nightlife options now than ever. Competition is good for the consumer, but not always for the owner.

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Woods on South Has Closed; Plan B Is a Nice Option

Woods on South closed this week. The South End restaurant helmed by celebrity Chef Marvin Woods lasted only eight months. The restaurant was previously known as Southend Brewery. Woods tried to do some innovative things to the Southern cuisine on the menu, but it apparently wasn't enough to make the restaurant a success.

I think it's going to be a challenge for anyone who tries to run that space. It's one of the largest restaurants around, certainly in South End, which I'm sure makes the overhead expensive. The large space, including the patio, and the large parking lot made it an appealing place for special events. I went to several events there as Woods on South and a few when it was Southend Brewery. But a restaurant needs substantial daily lunch and dinner traffic to survive, and when I went there on regular occasions it was always rather sparse. I suggest whoever opens it next divide it into two separate restaurants.

There's a new restaurant in town, Plan B, that I checked out for the first time last night. Plan B opened about a month and a half ago in the former space of City Tavern on East Boulevard in Dilworth. The new place is more of a bar than a restaurant. Gone are the restaurant style tables and booths. They've been substituted with high tables, which are advantageous for standing at with drink in hand and appetizer on table.

Plan B looks cool inside. Very sleek with white walls and great lighting. The servers wear shirts that say "got plans?" And about its name, it's rather interesting, don't you think? It makes me think of the place being a second option or of the birth control method. Neither one is a good connotation for a new bar. I made a similar comment about the naming of the new Club Amnesia. I made a funny—at least I thought it was funny (read that blog post here).

I met a friend at Plan B last night who told me that Tuesday nights on the rooftop were popular. Apparently that was also the case when it was City Tavern. The weather was perfect to be on the roof. The appetizers we had were pretty good—Asian Chicken Quesadillas and Tex-Mex Tacos. But the best part of it all, which I'm sure is why this night is so popular, is that Tuesdays are half-price wine bottles night. You can't beat getting a bottle of wine for the price of two glasses.

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