A familiar business is moving to Charlotte’s Colony Furniture building in Eastover
Magnolia Emporium, a beloved Charlotte gift shop and gallery space, is ready for its next chapter. The setting? Eastover.
The Gold District staple is moving to a new home where it will be the anchor tenant at the new Galleries at Eight Eleven, located in the former Colony Furniture building. Nearby neighbors include Napa on Providence, Zio Casual Italian and RuRu’s Tacos + Tequila. Randolph Gareth James, principal designer and co-founder of Magnolia Emporium, said he’s sad to leave the area, but the business has outgrown the space.
James is targeting a soft opening in the late summer — Aug. 11, if all goes well — and a grand opening during the holiday season.
“It will be over 12,500 sq. ft. of excitement, beauty, glamour and style,” James said. “It’s Magnolia Emporium on steroids. You have a little bit of the flavor of everything. You can come buy clothing. You can come buy jewelry. You can come get a glass of champagne, and you can have your kitchen designed.”
To restore the beauty of the space, Magnolia Emporium partnered with Caren Wingate of Wingate Advisory Group, the current chairwoman of the Gold District, as well as Stephen Overcash of Overcash Demmit Architects. Corporate tenants include Sherwin-Williams, Walker Zanger, Legrand-Vantage, Kauffman & Co., Cosentino and more.
THE LINEUP
The Galleries at Eight Eleven will act as a hub for creativity, design and fashion. Magnolia Emporium will be anchored at the front of the building.
Coffey & Thompson — Charlotte’s first Uptown art gallery, custom frame shop and art restoration center — is the main co-anchor and additional partner in the venture. It’ll be accompanied by celebrity clothier William Wilson, who will occupy a 300-square foot space. They’ll also be leaving their old locations behind.
“I’m really excited to have a storefront area where people can walk by and have all of the additional businesses in the building, as well. We can all help feed each other,” Wilson said. “Instead of just me and the art gallery, we’ll have Magnolia Emporium and what they bring to the table. That brings a lot of really cool customers, and I think it’ll be a really cool space for people even just to come in there and hang out; something that’s really unique and different for the area.”
Wilson describes his new space as an enclave, where his celebrity clients can come in and have an intimate, personalized experience. Eddie Griffin, DL Hughley, and Stephen Curry are listed as clients on Magnolia’s website.
“I have a little minibar to get a drink, have a snack. We can sit down and talk, a really personal experience,” Wilson said. “It’s like being with your therapist, your clothier and your bartender all at the same time.”
Stefan Duncan, the creator of “Squiggleism” living spirit art, will also join the new venture. He’s known as the American Van Gogh — a name given to him by the Vincent Van Gogh Gallery.
“The man is brilliant,” James said.
Victoria Schweizer, a local artist, philanthropist and entrepreneur, will also occupy gallery space, as well as Betty Malo, celebrity jewelry designer and owner of Betty Badd Couture.
T.E.A.M. (The Everyday Average Millionaire), owned by Justin Lane-Brady and his husband, Tom Lane-Brady, will occupy space in the mezzanine level, where they’ll offer full-body therapeutic massages, entrepreneurial coaching and life coaching.
THE EXPERIENCE
“It’s like going to the mall without going to the mall. It’s not as much a commercialized feel,” Wilson said. “With everything going on now and the way that industries are changing in general, you have to give an entirely different customer experience.
“The way the basic consumer has been trained now is to point-click-point-click on a computer. The Galleries at Eight Eleven gives you that real personal interaction and feeling like you’re actually somebody and not just another register transaction. The more people that like it, the more fun they’re going to have with it, and I think it will cause more of those kinds of places to sprout up.”
“When you come in, it’s like you’re walking into your living room,” James said.
He said they’ve kept the beloved ambiance of the former Magnolia Emporium store, keeping decor such as indoor and outdoor fountains and a living wall. You can expect carved entryways. A baby grand piano. A stunning awning with black-and-white striped drapery. Custom scents wafting throughout the space. And mid-century doors stained in a rich coral lacquer.
“It’s going to be like a little village inside. You’ll have custom market signs that will hang over the doorways and a whole mezzanine area,” James said. “We want to showcase the beauty of this building and the mid-century style. It was very important for us to keep the building’s heritage,” James said.
In keeping with that heritage, the original Colony sign will be placed inside in a space called the Colony Room, which can be used for community meetings. There will also be a coffee station, likely called Frank’s Corner, named for Magnolia Emporium’s 90-year-old intern, Joe “Frank” Dearien.
James describes Dearien as an “invaluable intern for The Gold District, Galleries at Eight Eleven, Magnolia Emporium and Coffey & Thompson.” He is a retired business owner with a wealth of knowledge. For over 20 years, Dearien and his late wife, Margaret “Peggy” Dearien, owned and operated the internationally recognized bed and breakfast, The Homeplace, on Sardis Road.
“He is a man about town and knows where all the cool kids hang out and the best parties to attend,” James said.
To celebrate Dearien and his legacy both in Charlotte and his future at The Galleries at Eight Eleven, there will be a picture of him and Dean Martin taken in the 1960s in the Galleries at Eight Eleven for customers to check out.
“You can come in as a business — an architect, an interior designer — or as a regular customer,” James said.
They’re working on getting their ABC license to allow for visitors to walk throughout the galleries with a glass of prosecco or champagne while nibbling on artisan cheeses. The space will also lend itself to events both big and small, from corporate gatherings to charity events and even fashion shows.
“There’s a huge opening that goes all the way down. We purposely did it as a runway, where we’ll be able to seat people on both sides of the walkway. Models can also start up at the mezzanine, come down the staircase, and then split off and walk around,” James said.
There’s much more to come as the space continues to be developed, and if James has his way, you may even feel like you’ve stepped into Narnia. More to come on that.
Galleries at Eight Eleven
811 Providence Road
Instagram: @galleries811
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 10:46 AM.
