Black Mountain is a restaurant merry-go-round.
In the short year that I have lived here, I have seen H.T. Papa's restaurant close; it is now a Chinese place. A coffee house on the edge of town closed — the lady who ran it left and opened her place in Old Fort (now I hear it is closed there too, and she moved to Charlotte). The Oak House closed and re-opened, and is not the same as before. Just two weeks ago, Camino's Mexican restaurant closed.
The Watershed was the first one to go, and after that it seems there was a domino effect. I don't eat out often, but when I do, it is disappointing when you get used to a place and they are soon gone.
What's going on in this town? Are the rent rates too high to stay open? I'm confused.
— Irene Corey
Black Mountain
It’s hard to eat out in the new Obama economy.
People often start restaurants without any real business plan or understanding of the market.
What confounds me is how they continue to get funding for these ill-fated, nary-researched businesses.
The restaurant game is tough, with a VERY low profit margin. It’s a cliche to want to open your own quaint little coffee shop, but understanding good business is different than having an ill-thought-out dream.
Although I hear the Republican tax cuts for the largest corporations around the world is going to turn the economy around any day now.