"You can come in and you can grab a glass of wine and a snack, and it can be your spot after work on your way home."
That is Sara Reeves, general manager and sake expert at Sora, describing her restaurant in an October 2026 interview with the Charlotte Observer. A year ago she probably wouldn't have said it. Sora opened in 2025 at 2907 Selwyn Ave as one of Charlotte's most exclusive tasting-menu rooms. Owner Birdie Yang also runs YAMA in SouthPark. Its new walk-in format depends on the shop next door, and that shop has only been on Selwyn Avenue since May.
The short commercial strip near Queens University has been reshuffling for about eleven months. One business closed and one moved in from across town. A fitness studio opened, and a restaurant changed its whole format. A Nashville chain is building in a space that has sat partly empty since last fall. Taken one at a time, these are ordinary openings and closings. Taken together, the block's center of gravity has moved from destination dining toward everyday stops that lean on each other.
The strip lost its market first
The current chapter starts with a closure. In November 2025, The People's Market shut both its Elizabeth store and its Myers Park store in Tranquil Court on Selwyn Avenue. Both closed the same week the news was reported. According to CharlotteFive's report, the owner pointed to strain that built up over time. That included the cost of opening a new location, equipment failures, HVAC repairs, a summer electrical fire, rising food and labor costs, and SBA capital that was delayed by the government shutdown.
That list is worth reading closely. It describes how hard it is to run a small food business with thin margins on a block like this one. It also helps explain why the businesses that came next are built the way they are.
Fourteen years at 7th Street, then 2901 Selwyn
Orrman's Cheese Shop spent 14 years in a stall at The Market at 7th Street in Uptown. On May 4, 2026, it opened a storefront at 2901 Selwyn Ave. Owners Rachel Klebaur and Jose Espinosa called the move "a new chapter" in their farewell post.
The shop is a full-service, cut-to-order cheese counter with more than 100 artisan varieties. Most come from local and regional producers. It also stocks meats, olives, jams and the other things that go on a charcuterie board. The Selwyn location adds a menu, with grilled cheese, soup, salads and raclette. Raclette is the Swiss dish of melted Alpine cheese scraped over bread, potatoes and cornichons.
A market stall depends on market foot traffic, while a storefront needs its own reasons for people to stop in. Orrman's opened with both a retail case and a lunch menu. That gave the block a casual, any-day option, which Sora's original concept wasn't designed to offer.
What Sora became with a cheese shop next door
Sora changed in two steps this year.
- May 2026. Sora loosened its tasting menu. It added à la carte service and offered a choice between an eight- to 10-course tasting menu and a shorter four- to five-course version.
- October 2026. Sora switched to a wine-bar format. It's now open for lunch and dinner, Wednesday through Sunday. Guests can walk in for a glass of wine and a charcuterie plate made with selections from Orrman's next door.
The tasting menu is still available. It's still reservation-only, but prepayment is no longer required, and it changes on the first of each month.
Reeves tied the change to the neighborhood itself, calling it "such a foodie community, a big wine savvy community." Sora's charcuterie comes from the cheese case next door, so it can offer a walk-in snack menu without building a pantry program of its own.
The current menu reflects the shift. At lunch there's a kale yuzu Caesar for $18 plus protein, chicken karaage for $18, and a 12-piece sashimi ice bowl for $65. Chef Dorji Tshering's dinner menu includes toro on crispy rice with caviar for $48, an 8-ounce aged prime strip loin for $78, and 4-ounce Miyazaki A5 wagyu at market price. According to Reeves, the biggest hit so far is a $25 A5 wagyu burger on ciabatta. It comes with garlic peppercorn aioli, fontina, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion and fries, and it's sized for sharing.
The wine list has moved the same way. New assistant manager John Shadow is adding more bottles in the $60 to $80 range, plus by-the-glass pours that suit lunch and snacks. He has his eye on a Wine Spectator award and plans to add selections from Australia, New Zealand, Georgia, Armenia and Austria. Sake is still a staple, and a new cocktail menu is in the works.
The dining room is still small, with a few tables, a large counter and no TVs. The hours and the price of a casual visit are what changed. A glass of wine and a cheese plate used to mean booking a prepaid tasting menu. Now it's a weekday walk-in.
The block, address by address
Here's how the strip stands as of early October 2026, going by the most recent reporting on each business.
| Address | Business | What changed | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2801 Selwyn Ave | Selwyn Avenue Pub | Listed in a CharlotteFive Myers Park roundup | As of March 2026 |
| Tranquil Court, Selwyn Ave | The People's Market | Closed permanently | November 2025 |
| 2820 Selwyn Ave, Tranquil Court | Radish Kitchen | Under construction in part of the former market space | Targeting early 2027 |
| 2901 Selwyn Ave | Orrman's Cheese Shop | Moved from The Market at 7th Street | Opened May 4, 2026 |
| 2907 Selwyn Ave | Sora | Added à la carte, then became a wine bar | May and October 2026 |
| 2909 Selwyn Ave | QC Lagree | New fitness studio | Listed among 2026 openings |
The three storefronts at 2901, 2907 and 2909 sit side by side. QC Lagree teaches high-intensity, low-impact strength workouts. It appears in Axios Charlotte's running list of businesses that opened in Charlotte in 2026, though that list doesn't give an exact opening day. Within one short stretch of sidewalk there's now a workout studio, a cheese counter and a wine bar.
Selwyn Avenue Pub at 2801 is the steady end of the block. CharlotteFive still listed it in its March 2026 Myers Park guide.
Half of Tranquil Court is spoken for
The former market space is the next piece to fill in. Radish Kitchen, based in Nashville, is building a 3,691-square-foot restaurant at 2820 Selwyn Ave in Tranquil Court. It will be the chain's first location in North Carolina. Both WhatNow Charlotte and the Charlotte Business Journal report an early-2027 opening target. Chef and cookbook author Amanda Frederickson founded the brand in 2020. The Charlotte menu is planned around made-from-scratch salads, grain bowls and wraps, including the Chicken Mamacita, Chicken Caesar and Falafel Fattoush, plus build-your-own bowls.
Thrift CRES announced the lease and described Radish as taking part of the former People's Market space, which leaves the rest of that space without a named tenant in the coverage so far. Coverage also gives the center more than one street number. CharlotteFive listed the market's Myers Park store at 2810 Selwyn Ave, while the Radish Kitchen reports use 2820. Both point to the same Tranquil Court center.
Early 2027 is a construction target, and those often slip. When Radish opens, though, the block will have a third daytime food option within a short walk of Orrman's lunch counter and Sora's midday menu. That would round out a lunch lineup the strip barely had a year ago, when its best-known restaurant needed a reservation and prepayment.
The strip that lost a market last November now has a cheese shop supplying the wine bar next door. Sora is open for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Sunday, and Radish Kitchen has a 3,691-square-foot space under construction across the way.
When the businesses on a block start building around each other, the street's whole daily rhythm can change, and that rhythm is part of what an address in Myers Park means. If you'd like to talk about how changes along streets like Selwyn Avenue fit with your own plans in Myers Park, Tiffany Johannes would be glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.
