A pair of national businesses are set to open their doors to Chapel Hill customers along East Franklin Street in just a few weeks’ time.

The sweetgreen restaurant at 122 East Franklin Street announced in an email to subscribers it is holding a soft opening for downtown customers on Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 15 before having a grand opening with normal business hours on Tuesday, Nov. 18. During the “sneak preview,” the popular salad and health bowl chain is offering a complimentary meal to visitors as it trains its staff.

Stylized in all lower-case letters, sweetgreen is a fast-casual chain restaurant based out of Los Angeles. Sporting dozens of locations across the country, it opened its first North Carolina restaurant in Raleigh last fall and the Chapel Hill store will be its second. The East Franklin Street space sweetgreen moved into has been empty since the pizza joint Benny Capella’s closed in Dec. 2021 and it has since been acquired by UNC’s real estate arm to be leased by the university.

The storefront of sweetgreen at 122 East Franklin Street in Chapel Hill in July, as the store was undergoing renovations and preparation for its fall opening. (Photo by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.)

Additionally, Eastgate Crossing in Chapel Hill is set to add its first new business since this summer’s historic flooding: a J. Crew Factory. The clothing outlet began moving into the space at Suite 18 of the 1800 East Franklin Street shopping center, which was previously home to a Hallmark store and the Pink Pearl boutique.

The space required months of renovations — highlighted by the damage created by flash floods from Tropical Depression Chantal in July — but J. Crew Factory plans to open on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 10 a.m. The retailer promoted offering prizes and discounts to shoppers on the first day, including coffee and treats, as it aims to bring more shoppers back to the damaged stretch of Eastgate space.

The new J. Crew Factory coming to Eastgate Crossing is in the area of the shopping center largely still closed in the aftermath of flood damage. With its opening on Nov. 20, both the retailer and Eastgate’s leadership hope to drive more traffic back to the nearby businesses. (Photo by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.)

Once opened, the Chapel Hill location will mark the 13th J. Crew Factory store in North Carolina. The retailer is hiring for the new store as well, with several sales and stock associate positions listed on the clothing brand’s website.

Official hours for both the sweetgreen and J. Crew Factory Chapel Hill locations have not been publicly posted as of Wednesday.

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