A spicy fall for Raleigh

In October, the Savory Spice Shop will open in the Lafayette Village shopping center in Raleigh.

The store, which got its start in the Denver area, sells more than 400 fresh ground herbs and spices, 140 hand-blended seasonings, organic herbs and spices and gift items. Products will be ground weekly to ensure freshness.

It is the second specialty spice shop to announce its pending arrival.

In a previous column, I mentioned that another national spice store chain, Penzeys Spices, is coming to Cameron Village (next to Goodberry's) in November with its first store in the Carolinas.

These types of stores are great because they allow customers to buy small quantities of exotic ingredients.

But it's not clear how much demand there is for such shops, especially as some upscale grocers sell bulk spices. I guess we'll have to wait and see how spicy the competition becomes.

In downtown Raleigh, Tookie's Grill closed its doors in Seaboard Station. Owner Marshall "Tookie" Gullie said the store suffered because of high rent, the economy and the untimely closing of the nearby Capital City Grocery. He hopes to relocate the Raleigh store to a space yet to be determined.

In the meantime, Tookie's fans can get their fix at the store at 8105 Falls of Neuse Road in Raleigh, or in Garner at 1322 Fifth Ave.

The arrival of September also means the arrival of those temporary Halloween stores, and Spirit Halloween is back this year with twice as many stores as usual.

Stores at 913 Spring Forest Road in Raleigh's Sutton Square, 5925 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh, and 5400 Durham-Chapel Hill Road in Durham are open as of today. A fourth store will open near the Raleigh Trader Joe's at 3071 Wake Forest Road on Monday.

Windy City transplants may want to know that the Rosati's Pizza chain has picked 3605 Davis Drive in Morrisville for its first franchised location on the East Coast. Rosati's, which traces its roots to the early 1900s in Chicago, has been franchising since the late 1970s. Until now, there have been no stores east of Indiana.

Other items: Frozen yogurt chain FreshBerry will open a second Raleigh store at 2526 Hillsborough St., just four months after opening its first. Unlike the first store on Six Forks Road, this FreshBerry will offer self service, where customers dispense their own frosty treats and toppings and then pay by the ounce. It will open in late September or October. ... In Cary, The Gamer's Armory is open at 684 Cary Towne Blvd. selling many varieties of games and miniatures. ... In Cary, the stationery and paper boutique Cute Buttons moved to Ashworth Village at 115-A W. Chatham St. ... And in Raleigh, Mami-Nora's opened in the old Papa Lou's at 2401 Wake Forest Road, serving rotisserie chicken and items like plantains and yucca fries. The company also has a store at 302 Davidson Ave. in Durham.