A version of the following article appeared in the May 13, 2026, edition of Real Estate Whispers, which is part of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.
Need to subscribe — or upgrade your Ledger e-newsletter subscription? Details here.
Caribou Coffee/Bruegger’s Bagels in Park Road Shopping Center to close at the end of the month; ‘we’re really going to miss it’
Caribou Coffee and Bruegger’s Bagels, which occupy the same 4,624 sq. ft. space at Park Road Shopping Center, will close later this month. (Photo courtesy of Tom Harris)
by Ashley Fahey
Tom Harris has been walking to Caribou Coffee and Bruegger’s Bagels at Park Road Shopping Center with a group of his neighbors for about a decade now. At the end of the month, he and the dozen or so of his friends who meet regularly at the coffee shop will have to find a new place to go.
That’s because Caribou Coffee and Bruegger’s (which share the same 4,624 sq. ft. space) are closing at Park Road Shopping Center on May 26, which Harris said he feels will be a big loss for the surrounding neighborhoods.
“From parents and toddlers, to teens, to students, up to older people — it’s one of the few places where you get together and generations are together,” Harris said. “It’s a place in the community and we’re really going to miss it.”
Alex Parker, a senior leasing representative at Edens (which owns and leases Park Road Shopping Center), confirmed the closure of Caribou Coffee and Bruegger's Bagels at the end of May. “These businesses have made a significant impact in the community over the years, and we are saddened to say goodbye,” Parker wrote in an email. “We’re grateful for the memories created at Park Road and look forward to building new ones together.”
Parker also confirmed that Charlotte Running Company will be relocating from Dilworth to lease the Park Road Shopping Center space soon to be vacated by Caribou Coffee and Bruegger’s.
Harris said, to his knowledge, there are dozens of groups that meet at the coffee shop on a weekly or monthly basis — Bible studies, fitness groups, tutors, businesses. While there are other coffee shops in the area (Park Road Shopping Center is also home to an Amelie’s French Bakery & Cafe, after all), Harris said the location, size, ample outdoor seating, “European design” and large windows of the Caribou Coffee make that specific space special.
“You can see the world go by when you're sitting there with the big windows,” he said. Harris has even reached out to the CEO of Caribou Coffee to advocate for a relocated store in Park Road Shopping Center or nearby.
A group of friends meets on the patio of Caribou Coffee at Park Road Shopping Center. (Photo courtesy of Tom Harris)
It’s perhaps one chain coffee shop in one shopping center, but the closure is an example of a broader story about third spaces disappearing, especially in the wake of the Covid pandemic, when gathering with community was tough to do and sorely missed. (Even coming out of Covid, Harris said, he and his friends met on Caribou’s patio.)
We’ll see if Caribou lands elsewhere — Park Road is nearly fully leased, according to a leasing brochure for the center.