Wake town’s concerts a boon for some businesses, a nuisance for others. What’s next?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Jubilation Spa had record sales in May, though staff noted FNOW parking is difficult.
- B & W Hardware, two other White St. stores said they'd close during future Friday Nights.
- Wake Forest dropped proposed 8 p.m. teen curfew for 2024; boosted police presence instead.
Jessica Hendrix has just one issue with Wake Forest’s Friday Night on White concert series: It can be hard to find a parking spot when she pulls up at 5 p.m. for her front desk shift at Jubilation Spa.
Otherwise, the event is great for business. May’s concert brought record sales to the day spa and boutique shop, Hendrix told The News & Observer during the June 12 event. As Hendrix sold bracelets to a young customer, she ducked under the counter, looking for quarters.
“I’m running out of change, which is, I guess, a result of how busy we get,” Hendrix said. “That never — I have never run out of change.”
Not every White Street business reports having a positive experience during the monthly concert series, though.
B & W Hardware recently announced on Facebook that starting in June, the store will close at 2 p.m., the same time the town closes White Street to vehicles for Friday Nights on White and four hours before the event begins. The town of Wake Forest appeared to reference some of the hardware store’s concerns in a post defending the event, The N&O previously reported.
Last week, two other businesses, boutique shop The Yellow Butterfly and creative arts studio The Makery announced they would also close during future Friday Nights on White.
The Yellow Butterfly wrote in a post that it stood with B & W Hardware and that businesses have “been vocalizing concerns for years, yet our voices are continually dismissed.” The Makery wrote that they made the “difficult” decision to close to the general public “to ensure our members and students feel safe and comfortable while creating.”
In a Tuesday email to The N&O, town spokesperson Bill Crabtree wrote that two juveniles got into a "skirmish” at the June 12 concert. Both received a one-year ban from coming to the event, and police are seeking a juvenile petition against the “primary aggressor.” A third person was also banned after they pushed someone to the ground in a separate incident at the June event.
Attendance at Friday Nights on White has ranged from 3,000 to 10,000 since the concert series began in 2016, Crabtree told The N&O.
A hardware store’s frustration with Friday Night on White
In its post, B & W Hardware wrote that, as a store that doesn’t sell food or alcohol, the event has brought more harm than good to its business — including property damage, shoplifting and “repeated issues with unruly and intoxicated customers.”
But it wasn’t always that way, B & W Hardware owner Joe Kimray wrote in an email to The N&O.
The store used to be a partner sponsor for the event, Kimray wrote. It even sold grills for customers who had dinner, a drink and visited other downtown businesses. In Kimray’s view, there were virtually no issues until two or three years ago.
“We enjoyed being able to spend time talking to new customers — and, if we recouped revenue at the same time, it was a win-win,” he wrote.
Kimray credited White Street Brewing Company’s management of the event. The company had dedicated entrances with ID checks and wristbands for those 21 and older, Kimray wrote, and it prevented the public from bringing in outside coolers.
Crabtree wrote that the town has managed Friday Night on White since its start in 2016 and White Street Brewing Company has only ever been the Grand Sponsor.
The town’s Social District rules mandate that “no outside alcohol or coolers will be permitted to enter the Friday Night on White event footprint unless in an approved Wake Forest Social District Cup.” But the town eliminated dedicated entrances, Kimray wrote. And in May, he saw two customers drinking from High Noon cans and another drinking a canned White Claw.
“While [the town says] that the event is managed well with regards to alcohol consumption — and it is definitely controlled well by the vendors that are part of the event — unfortunately, there is nothing in-place to control what people may be bringing with them,” Kimray wrote.
Crabtree wrote that the town has two main entrances, but “due to the configuration of our downtown, there is no way to ensure attendees check in through these main entrances only.”
Closing White Street at 2 p.m. also leaves B & W Hardware’s regular customers no way to access the store, Kimray wrote. Fewer customers during Friday Night on White left the store unable to recoup the lost revenue. For Kimray, closing his store at 2 p.m. on event days made more sense.
“In recent years, the number of customers that are actually shopping during the event has drastically decreased — and we are spending more time cleaning up spilled beer from our floors than we are selling products,” he wrote.
Other businesses see the event as positive
Every second Friday, Jubilation Spa customers can’t sign up for spa appointments between 2 and 6 p.m. because the town shuts White Street down, Hendrix said. But those customers just pick another day to come. Besides that, the event is good for the store’s sales, and Friday Night on White brings a different kind of customer.
During June’s event, one curious girl, with a near-empty red boba in her hand, bought two bracelets — one for her mom, and one for her friend at volleyball practice. The girl complimented Hendrix’s dark gold, tassel-adorned earrings. Hendrix told her she got it at a thrift store.
“Thrift stores have the best gifts,” the girl remarked.
Wake Forest considered an 8 p.m. curfew for unaccompanied teens in 2024 but chose instead to increase police presence. When last week’s event ended, dozens of police officers ushered the many teenagers who had gathered behind the Fidelity Bank away from White Street and directed attendees to go home.
Hendrix said she enjoys talking to the young people who come to the event. She thinks the store’s inventory — stocked with hair clips, stickers, bracelets and stones — appeals to a younger demographic. Their feedback inspired Jubilation Spa to start selling $20 mystery bags.
“Normally during the weekdays, they’re at home, or they’re at school, or they’re doing homework or studying — or whatever young people are doing,” Hendrix said. “We don’t normally see hordes of teenagers and young people during the week.”
A group of teenagers who came by The Planted Bean last Friday gave a green ball to the plant nursery’s unofficial mascot, a German shepherd husky named Sprout. The dog chased it across the wooden floors while Friday Night on White attendees explored the store.
The Planted Bean owner Sarah Calvelli opened a new location on White Street in March. So she had not experienced Friday Night on White until April, when the company saw strong sales. Several new customers come back on the weekend after coming to the event and discovering what the shop had to offer.
June wasn’t as strong for sales as April, Calvelli said. But it was also 20 degrees hotter.
“I’m happy that I stayed open, even if it wasn’t a busy sales day,” Calvelli said. “It’s good advertisement to be open. People know we’re here now; they can come back another day and shop.”
The future of Friday Night on White
Several residents commented on Facebook that the town should move Friday Night on White away from White Street.
When asked about relocating the event, Crabtree wrote that “we constantly assess Friday Night on White and at the end of the season will consider and discuss a range of scenarios concerning the future of the event.”
As of May, the town started positioning officers on rooftops with rifles, drawing concern from some residents and businesses. Kimray wrote that if a community event “has reached a level where that type of surveillance is necessary, then there are many other underlying issues that need to be corrected.”
Crabtree wrote that the rooftop officers must have rifles to “prepare for worst case scenarios.”
“Respectfully, if they didn’t have rifles and something terrible were to occur, you and every person in our community would be asking why those officers didn’t have rifles and weren’t better equipped or more prepared to prevent the terrible thing from happening,” he wrote.
Crabtree told The N&O Friday that the town offers a survey to downtown businesses about Friday Night on White. All town departments involved with Friday Night on White meet after each event to discuss what worked and what needs improvement. In response to feedback, the town has increased police presence and created a hotline for businesses to call for a quicker police response.
Kimray wrote that he and others have never been offered a follow-up discussion based on their survey feedback.
“One fellow business owner told me today that he simply quit filling them out because he felt that it was just a waste of time, since no suggestions he made were ever acted upon,” Kimray wrote.
Wake Forest Commissioner Adam Wright wrote in a Saturday Facebook post that he and Commissioner Nick Sliwinski spoke with 10 to 12 residents and local business owners at Wake Forest Coffee Company about several topics including Friday Night on White.
Wright wrote Monday that he is planning a downtown summit with the concert series as a main topic of discussion and asked followers to tag downtown businesses and leave questions or concerns.
We are going to be candid,” Wright wrote. “We are going to be honest. Some parts of the conversation may be uncomfortable, but it is coming from a place of love for Wake Forest and wanting the best for our downtown and our town as a whole.”
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