Craft store brings all-ages fun to downtown Chapel Hill, other local business changes

Tammy Grubb
·5 min read

Amy Fang returned home to Chapel Hill after college to open her business, hoping to make new friends and “turn North Carolina into more of a fun place.”

Koala Craft had its soft opening in December, with a grand opening on Jan. 28 at the Greenbridge building, 601 W. Rosemary St.

The colorful store that Fang named for her favorite animal has projects for all ages and skill levels, from painting and pourable fluid art to fusable Perler beads, yarn tufting and 3-D Decoden crafts. Prices start at $10, and there are discounts and package deals, plus a separate space for parties and classes.

Fang, who turns 24 in February, moved to Chapel Hill with her family about 10 years ago from Tianjin, China, located between Beijing and the Yellow Sea. She graduated from East Chapel Hill High School in 2018 and earned a marketing degree from Boston University.

Customers can enjoy painting on a variety of surfaces, including glass, ceramics and Decoden crafts, along with other crafts, such as tufting, at Koala Crafts, a new store located in the Greenbridge building on West Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill.
Customers can enjoy painting on a variety of surfaces, including glass, ceramics and Decoden crafts, along with other crafts, such as tufting, at Koala Crafts, a new store located in the Greenbridge building on West Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill.

Her own interest in arts and crafts grew from a young age and was honed in high school and college art classes, Fang said. Koala Craft gives her many opportunities to practice her marketing, crafting and design skills, she said. She’s gotten a lot of support from her mom, Jing Jing Wang, and her grandmother, who help with painting, designs and other work around the store.

The Greenbridge location is great, because it’s near her home and the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, with a lot of people passing by, Fang said. The store is one of several businesses in Greenbridge, including a salon, CBD and vape retailer, and cell phone repair shop. It is around the corner from several locally owned businesses on South Roberson Street, including an arcade, bars, shops and restaurants.

Fang said she would like to see her business expand to other cities in the future, including Raleigh, but for now, it’s exciting to create a downtown Chapel Hill space where people can plan a fun date night, hang out with friends or squeeze in a little parent-kid time.

“In the many years I’ve been here ... when I hung out with my friends, I didn’t know anywhere I could go (other than) buy some food with them. My Boston friends come to visit me, and they ask where’s somewhere we can visit and play around together. It’s very hard; we can walk some trails,” she said, laughing.

Koala Craft owner Amy Fang (left) said she wants to bring some fun to North Carolina with her Koala Crafts store, located on West Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill. Her mother Jing Jing Wang (right) helps out with painting, design and other work.
Koala Craft owner Amy Fang (left) said she wants to bring some fun to North Carolina with her Koala Crafts store, located on West Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill. Her mother Jing Jing Wang (right) helps out with painting, design and other work.

More business news

▪ Coco Bistro & Bar in Chapel Hill is launching a new, plant-based brunch option, in addition to the plant-based breakfast and lunch items available since the restaurant opened in 2022. The brunch menu includes new signature cocktails, according to a news release.

Coco Bistro is open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 101 Glen Lennox Drive, with a dinner event from 5:30 to 9 p.m. every Friday featuring regularly updated specials. A portion of the restaurant’s profits benefit the nonprofit animal sanctuary Beautiful Together, which was co-founded by the restaurant’s owners in 2014.

Eggs Benedict is one of the items on Coco Bistro & Bar’s new brunch menu. The plant-based Chapel Hill restaurant opened in Glen Lennox in 2022.
Eggs Benedict is one of the items on Coco Bistro & Bar’s new brunch menu. The plant-based Chapel Hill restaurant opened in Glen Lennox in 2022.

▪ After two years as a home-based business, Even Dough Bakery announced on Feb. 1 its first brick-and-mortar retail store will open in Carrboro later this year.

Bakery owner and pastry chef Meital Cohen said in a Facebook post that Even Dough’s 203 W. Weaver St. store (in the former Mosaic bistro space) will have a cafe, garden and workshop offering classes. “Updates, sneak peaks and special treats” are in store, Cohen said, and will be posted to the bakery’s Facebook page.

▪ Craftboro Brewing Depot is closing its doors at 101 Two Hills Drive in Carrboro’s South Green shopping center on Feb. 17, the owners announced in a recent Facebook post.

The business was recovering from the pandemic when it ran into challenges with equipment, the weather and “other obstacles” that left them financially and emotionally “exhausted,” owners Jason and Amy McCarter posted.

“We close our doors due to an onslaught of challenges beyond our control that eventually overcame our ability to get back up. Boring, frustrating, real-life (expletive) that leaves us feeling unsatisfied, empty and defeated. Exhausted. Sad. Maybe a bit angry,” they said.

Hops & Berry Taproom is now open in Chatham Park’s Mosaic district off U.S. 15-501, north of Pittsboro. The business has 60 different taps and charges by the ounce for self-serve craft brews, wine, cocktails, seltzers and ciders.
Hops & Berry Taproom is now open in Chatham Park’s Mosaic district off U.S. 15-501, north of Pittsboro. The business has 60 different taps and charges by the ounce for self-serve craft brews, wine, cocktails, seltzers and ciders.

▪ Several businesses, plus 312 apartments, are coming online at Northwood Landing and Mosaic, two districts in the 8,500-acre Chatham Park community growing along U.S. 15-501 and U.S. 64, just north of Pittsboro.

Northwood Landing is adding five new spaces this spring, including a Hubie’s Express Car Wash, a locally owned company with 24 vacuums and a 126-foot wash tunnel. Others include Dunkin’, Zaxby’s, a FirstHealth of the Carolinas medical clinic and the 312-unit Medley at Northwood Landing apartment community.

Across the highway, People’s Coffee is giving residents and visitors a new place to go for a cup of Joe or lunch with friends in Suite 100 at 60 Mosaic Blvd. in Chatham Park’s Mosaic district. It’s the second location for People’s Coffee, which started in Durham. The cafe is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday, offering all-day breakfast, lunch, grab-and-go snacks, coffees, shakes and tea.

Also open in the Mosaic district is Hops & Berry Taproom, which charges by the ounce for self-serve craft brews, wine, cocktails, seltzers and ciders. The taproom has 60 taps with rotating options and also serves bar food favorites, including pizzas and wings.