While some stores come and go in downtown Wilmington, others have remained part of the area’s central business district (CBD) for decades, continuing to serve customers through hurricanes, recessions and a global pandemic.

The CBD is located between the Cape Fear River and Third Street to the east, and Red Cross Street and Ann Street to the north and south.

The following are the stories of two downtown CBD retailers that remained fixtures despite what challenges came their way.
 

Williams had urge to get creative and stay nimble

This July, Edge of Urge (EOU), a staple of Wilmington’s downtown retail scene, turns 23 years old, and founder Jessie Williams couldn’t be more elated, if not a little apprehensive.

“It’ll be exactly half my life that I’ve given to it,” said the now 45-year-old Greensboro native and School of the Art Institute of Chicago alum. “Isn’t that crazy?”

Maybe not, some Port City shoppers and others might argue, given Williams’ artistic and entrepreneurial talents – and instinct for survival – that she’s used to render EOU at 18 Market St. a longstanding and popular destination to find unique gifts.

But EOU’s staying power wasn’t always guaranteed.

“I originally opened the store in the Old Wilmington City Market,” she said, referring to the historic one-story brick and stucco building between Front and Water streets. “It was a 400-square-foot space. It was a storage room. Guy who owned it said, ‘If you want it, you can have it,’ and I said, ‘I’ll take it.’”
 

“To be able to make changes quickly and to be able to evolve is important. We do it by watching and listening to our customers.”
- JESSIE WILLIAMS, Edge of Urge founder

Up to that point, Williams’ wares had mainly been handmade knitted items that she tried selling in the Windy City.

“I had a cute little vintage suitcase, and I made some appointments and walked around my favorite stores and tried to sell them, and they were like, ‘Um, no, we don’t sell handmade things,’” she said. “‘We need everything to look the same. Can you make them the exact same?’ And I was like, ‘Um, not really. Nor do I want to.’”

This lukewarm response – and her mother’s idea to open a store in Wilmington – eventually heated things up for EOU, with Williams moving her woven wears south to the Tarheel state, to that 400-square-foot space she’d rented.

“Everything I had was handmade,” she said. “My first day open was the Fourth of July, and we made $1,000. I was like, ‘Wow!’”

Custom dresses and swimsuits soon followed, among other items, and so did the celebrities. One Tree Hill’s Hilarie Burton, Sophia Bush and Bethany Joy Lenz were frequent customers.

More factors than just limited square footage and uncertain product markets threatened EOU’s long-term existence, including funding.
Getting a bank to give Edge of Urge a loan was a struggle.

“I felt I was never good enough … they would say, ‘Your sales are high,’ then they’d tell me I needed to jump through this hoop,’ and I’d be like, ‘OK, fine, I’ll jump through that hoop,’” Williams said. “And then it was always something else, and I didn’t get my first loan until 2017. It was straight-up bootstraps.”

During the Great Recession in 2008, “I had to reinvent the whole thing,” Williams said.

A wide variety of merchandise at different price points, among other things, kept the wolf from the door, she said.

More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic could have resulted in a terminal diagnosis for any business.

“We had this idea to make $25 mystery boxes,” she said. “You would order it online for someone, along with a special message, and then we’d curate a special package with all these different items, gift wrap it and send it. That honestly saved Edge of Urge during the pandemic.”

Nimbleness, said Williams, is one factor that’s helped keep EOU’s doors open. “To be able to make changes quickly and to be able to evolve is important,” she said. “We do it by watching and listening to our customers. A sense of humor has always played a role too.”
 

At T.S. Brown, AN ‘artsy' store’ survives

The customer was sure Sandy Brown wouldn’t remember him, but he tried anyway.

“I remember coming here when I was about my son’s age, which is 8 years old, and he’s about 35 now,” that customer said.

Of course, Brown didn’t remember him, but the question was no surprise. “We’ve gotten a lot of those stories in our 41 years of business,” she said. “We love it.”

Nestled in downtown Wilmington’s The Cotton Exchange, T.S. Brown Jewelry, owned by Tim and Sandy Brown, has seen thousands of customers walk through its doors. Art is at the heart of the store’s beginnings.

“I grew up in Riegelwood and went to the University of North Carolina Greensboro and studied art and art education,” said Sandy Brown. “I ended up managing an art gallery down on Front Street. It was a cool space.”

The Browns met by way of the latter’s mother, who along with her husband, owned Fidler’s art gallery, also in The Cotton Exchange. The couple headed to Kansas for a few years, but Wilmington – and the prospect of opening their own store – lured them back.
T.S. Brown Jewelry opened in 1983.

While Tim Brown hand-forged a wide array of jewelry the couple had designed, his wife concentrated on customers.

When the Great Recession hit, “I think the reason we survived is because we had jewelry from $10 to $5,000,” Sandy Brown said. “Somebody could come in and buy a nice gift for $20 or $30. We had loyal customers and a variety of price ranges.”

T.S. Brown also survived a global pandemic.

“During COVID, we were lucky enough to get a PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loan, and we got one from the city for $10,000,” Sandy Brown said.

Overall, she attributes the shop’s longevity to “customer service and unusual pieces of jewelry ... Also, customers say the store has a really good vibe. And we’re just so nice.”