‘Pretty upsetting.’ Customers lament loss of businesses at Charlotte’s Epicentre

Mitchell Brooks visits the Epicentre about once every week or two, but many of the shops he used to go to are now closed. On Friday, he was there to pick up lunch from Fuji Hibachi and Teriyaki Grill, one of the few remaining restaurants.

“Seeing all the different restaurants that I used to go to close has been pretty upsetting,” said Brooks.

Now Epicentre — the once-popular uptown shopping and entertainment center — is facing potential foreclosure after running behind on payments on an $85 million loan.

Only 21 businesses remain, leaving the center at a 35% occupancy, according to Reonomy, a commercial real estate database. Fuji Hibachi and Teriyaki Grill was among those that managed to stay open.

“We’re still okay because we do mainly online orders,” restaurant manager Long Chen said.

Among the largely vacant shops, one restaurant that remains open stood out — Redeye Diner.

While most store fronts at Epicentre have been boarded up, the diner with its red neon lights was filled with customers. “We’re pretty busy here, and that’s not many other businesses around, so we’re taking advantage of the situation,” manager Keith Mathis said.

Mathis said that he isn’t too worried about Epicentre’s possible foreclosure.

“We have no intentions of leaving,” he said.

Concern among customers, businesses

But the threat of foreclosure has caused some worry among regular patrons.

“If they close this down, I don’t know where we’re going to go to have fun,” Charlotte resident Catina Degree said.

Huntersville resident Chauncey Anderson, who visits the Epicentre from time to time, also expressed his concerns. “It’ll just be one less place in Charlotte that people will come to on the regular,” he said.

Many who visit the Epicentre are out of town guests staying at adjoining hotels.

“It’s a grand design,” said Al Rodriguez who is visiting Charlotte from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “I feel like it’s an example of urban decay since most of the businesses are closed.”

For the remaining businesses that have already survived a pandemic, the foreclosure is just another hurdle.

“We want to continue to do great business uptown,” said James Mack, owner of Epic Times Jewelry. “We hate to hear news like that (potential foreclosure), but we are looking for retail space just in case something does happen.”

Mack said that although the beginning of the pandemic was rough, in the past three months business has been getting stronger.

“Things have been slowly picking up,” he said. “But every time we get some bad news about the Epicentre, it does not help the businesses that still remain.”

This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 4:18 PM.