The NoDa Company Store owners are skipping town to expand their concept internationally

Joey Hewell and Scott Lindsley: You know them as co-founders of the NoDa Farmers Market, creators of NoDa Company Store, garden and cooking experts or maybe as the stylist and real estate guru who are masters of the 704 homestead on 36th Street.

Add one more title to the docket of these Charlotte staples: International resort owners.

“The NoDa Colada is going international!” Hewell said, referring to the NoDa Company Store’s signature drink.

The couple is heading to Roatán, where they will be creating a paradise getaway. Think: the Company Store, if it had a beach and you could sleep there. They are purchasing 3.5 acres of land with 352 feet of beachfront. Behind them is a national park and in front of them is a marine reserve on the Caribbean island in Honduras.

They have announced manager Dave “Homie” Holmes, who has worked for the Company Store for 2.5 years, is now a co-owner. He will continue to run the daily operations on the home front. The NoDa Company Canteen at Camp North End will also continue to be business as usual.  

“It’s an honor to be in such good company with friends and brothers. NoDa Company Store will always be the neighborhood’s backyard patio,” Holmes said.

Hewell and Lindsley’s 4-bedroom, 3,300 square feet home on 36th Street will be on the market for $799,000 as of today.

Their NoDa home has lush, Caribbean-inspired landscaping in the front yard and an outdoor shower in the backyard. That’s no coincidence.

“When we first met, we took a vacation to Costa Rica and we fell in love with the mountains and the jungle. It’s really so pretty and lush and tropical,” Hewell said. They created that space to the extent they could with their home in Charlotte, and Hewell said this next move feels like their entire story over the past 15 years is coming full circle.

The couple has been considering this for quite some time, and they said keeping the secret was the hardest part. Hindsight being 20/20, the signs were all there. Their formerly black, teal and purple house got a new makeover about six weeks ago, with NoDa Painting Company painting it white.

This week, their “spring cleaning” inspired questions from neighbors about what they are doing with their house, and Hewell said it pained him to have to keep the secret about their move.

The couple’s recent visit to Roatán may have appeared on social media like a vacation getaway, but it was actually a property search.

“After that initial ‘Are we really going to do this?’ right when we pulled up to the property, it was impossible to pass up,” Hewell said. “If that home could be in the middle of NoDa, it would be a perfect life.”

The average temperature in Roatán is 82 degrees. The island is known for its beaches and reef diving, zip lining and deep-sea fishing. It will be the perfect place to serve their NoDa Colada, their wine-based cocktail of fresh coconut and pineapple, served on the rocks with a splash of Prosecco. In fact, fresh coconuts, pineapples, bananas, mangos, sea grapes, cashews and limes are all growing on their property.

Their new Roatàn estate will include a main house, where the couple will live, and a small home on the property called a casita. There’s an outdoor kitchen and grilling area and a fishing boat that they will aptly name Queen Charlotte. The property is completely solar powered with a  backup generator and well water. Over the next several months, they will build more casitas for resort guests to stay; each one will hold two to four people. They will still do all the same videos they are known for now on social media, showing off their cooking experiments and other projects.

Getting there will be an adventure: the couple’s three dogs have never flown before or been in crates, so to keep them off the airplane, the family will trek down through Belize via rental car with backpacks. A boat will take them the rest of the way.

Lindsley said some of the things they will miss include their daily walks to Smelly Cat Coffeehouse. “We love going to the coffee shop. We love going to dinner everywhere in the neighborhood,” he said.

However, their new place will be a 10-minute leisurely boat ride into town, one that is very community-oriented. “We will be participating,” Lindsley said. Anyone who knows them will not be surprised to hear that in the least. The couple joked that the activities calendar was missing a Wednesday event, and they would be happy to fill the slot.

Hewell and Lindsley will return to Charlotte on a regular basis. Even better, they want us to visit them. The details are still in flux, but expect to see some Charlotte and NoDa-featured specials for anyone local who wants to frequent their new resort.

“You can have breakfast in NoDa and lunch in Roatàn,” Lindsley said.

This story was originally published July 12, 2018 at 2:00 AM with the headline "The NoDa Company Store owners are skipping town to expand their concept internationally."