2 longtime Triangle stores are closing. Here are the last days to shop
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Bull City Records in downtown Durham will close, with sales starting April 8.
- Eddie Bauer operator Catalyst Brands filed for bankruptcy and is closing stores.
- Smithfield’s Eddie Bauer, the last in the Triangle, will close by late April.
Two Triangle businesses that lasted years are now closing for good.
One store is shutting down as part of wider financial challenges being faced by the company, but another locally owned store is “retiring.”
Here’s what to know about the stores and when shoppers can still visit.
Durham record store closing after 20 years
Owner Charles “Chaz” Martenstein announced the “retirement” of the downtown Durham record store Bull City Records in late March. Located at 124 E. Main St., the shop is open through the end of April, and sales begin Wednesday, April 8.
Shoppers can visit 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday.
“It’s been a truly magical twenty years, but the time has come,” Martenstein wrote on the store’s website. “I feel like I have reached the finish line and I am extremely proud of what we have created here.”
Eddie Bauer closing Smithfield store
Catalyst Brands, the operator of Eddie Bauer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is closing its brick-and-mortar Eddie Bauer stores in North Carolina.
The Smithfield location, at the Carolina Premium Outlets, was in its final liquidation phase as of Saturday, March 31. All physical stores are expected to be permanently closed by Thursday, April 30.
The Carolina Premium Outlets location is Eddie Bauer’s only remaining store in the Triangle. The brand previously had stores at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh and at Cary Towne Center.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full stories linked here were reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.
This story was originally published April 7, 2026 at 2:10 PM.
