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Maxway
in Wake Forest Plaza on Brooks Street
will close its doors for good on June
16, and Wake Forest Classic Cars, which
has been in the Chevrolet Building on
South White Street for four years, will
open up with a new name in early July.
“It’s a sign of a living
town,” Downtown Manager Tina Archer said
of the moves.
She is talking with Scott
Brown, who owns both the Chevrolet
Building and the classic car business it
houses, encouraging him to look for
either a retail business or a restaurant
as the next tenant. The recent market
analyses showed those types of
businesses are needed in the historic
downtown.
Archer said the approach has
worked for two new businesses. Joan
Miller, who owns the building at 213 S.
White St., found a retail tenant,
Magnolia Trading Company. It had been
one of the businesses in the Red Door
consignment shop next door. Archer said
the Magnolia Trading Company plans to
open for Meet in the Street this
Saturday, May 5.
The other new business
Archer helped with the market analysis
is Studio One21, a hair salon
specializing in color, which plans an
open house on Saturday with a grand
opening on May 12. The salon is in the
former Irish Republic.
Some of Maxway’s loyal
customers are devastated by the news of
the closing. Manager Angela Kilgore said
one woman broke down in a tempest of
tears in the store recently and broke
down again when sales staff helped her
to her car.
Maxway has been in Wake
Forest Plaza since about 1978 when the
shopping center, the town’s first, was
opened by owners Tommy Holding and Sam
Bass. The store may have changed its
name slightly through the years, but it
was difficult to pin that down.
Maxway is owned by Variety
Wholesalers in Henderson, a private
company owned by the Pope family. The
firm has had a presence in Wake Forest
since at least the 1950s, when Pope’s
was one of two five-and-dime stores
along South White Street. A photograph
in the archives at the Wake Forest
Birthplace Museum shows Pope’s to the
south, Macks 5-10-25 Store next to it on
the north and the T.E. Holding & Co.
drug store at the corner of South White
and East Jones Avenue. (The drug store
has most recently been Burkenstocks
restaurant.)
Pope’s closed when Maxway
opened in the plaza.
Charlie Keleel, who has been
the manager at Wake Forest Classic Cars
for a year and a half, was a bit
tentative when asked if the business
planned to move. “I’m afraid to say yes,
but that’s the plan.”
Kaleel said the business
needs a bigger building for all the cars
in stock – “I’ve got more cars than I’ve
space for” – and the future plans, which
include a monthly cruise-in and car
shows, both of which require a lot of
space. The plaza has a large parking
lot.
“I’ve got some big hopes,”
Kaleel said, which include bringing in
vintage juke boxes and other ‘50’s
paraphernalia. “I want to make it a fun
place to come into.”
He also said the owner,
Craig Briner of East Elm Partners, has
plans to lease the old Winn-Dixie to a
furniture store. “We’re hoping to bring
that shopping center back to life.”
Kaleel said he could not
depend on foot traffic to sell his
vintage and antique cars although “I did
sell a car Saturday to a local person
who walked in the front door.” He sells
99 percent of his stock on E-Bay with
the people buying the cars arranging for
transportation. “I sent one to Arabia
not too long ago. My cars go to Florida,
Arizona, New York, all over.”
Kaleel said the name of the
business will be changed when it moves
but will include the description of
“historic Wake Forest. We think it will
be good for the town.” |
