In the category of “my, things change,” we have Starbucks in Pittsboro. To be specific, TWO Starbucks in Pittsboro.
Pittsboro – if you’re not from North Carolina or don’t get out much – is a formerly small town just south of Chapel Hill and the county seat of Chatham County. It’s where you used to turn left to get to Chapel Hill if you were driving the back way through Asheboro and the Blue Mist. (Though some of my Asheboro-savvy friends have pointed me to the Henry James on U.S. 220 for even better barbecue. No, it isn’t named for the novelist.)
Pittsboro has a great old county courthouse in a traffic circle in the middle of town. Or at least, it used to. If Starbucks has come to town it’s entirely possible things have changed.
Let me note here that while Pittsboro may be chi-chi enough to attract TWO Starbucks, most of East Charlotte remains Starbucks-free. South of University City and east of Monroe Road, you’re out of luck. (Starbucks’ web site shows stores way out Indy Boulevard and one apparently tucked into a place called Northlake Commons either in or near Mint Hill.) Indeed, if you drive the rural route to Chapel Hill, either heading out Albemarle Road or up N.C. 49, you’re in Starbucks-free land until you hit Pittsboro and 15-501.
Think Starbucks will ever recognize East Charlotte as a market? Does it need to?
And just for fun, reader Don May, who lives near Lake Wylie Elementary shared this photo with the Observer. It was shot Jan. 20, on Laurel View Drive. “Thought you might want to show your readers that neighborhoods and wildlife can coexist,” he says.