"It's a part of the town," Jack Moore said in 2021, talking about the hardware store he had worked in since he was a teenager. "I see young men come in here now, like their daddies did, and that's something special, for me, and for the town."
This fall, the building he spent his life in is on the market. Up the street at 185 N. Main St., a new restaurant from the team behind Kindred in Davidson has been open for less than a month. On paper the two stories run separately. Put together, they show where North Main is heading. The street's newest investment is built around dinner, the social district and walk-in seats at the bar. The address that defined its daytime life for 127 years doesn't yet have a clear future.
What's for sale at 111 North Main
D.E. Turner & Co. Hardware has operated at 111 N. Main St. since David Elmer Turner opened it in 1899 as a hardware and general supply store. It sits across from the old railroad depot, which now houses the Mooresville Arts gallery. Jack Moore started working there as a teenager in the 1940s. D.E. Turner Jr. took over in 1965, and Moore bought the business in 1981 and kept the name. Moore later said there was "never one thought about changing the name." His son Danny started working there full time in 1987, and daughters Donna Lane, Jackie Justice and Nancy Davidson were active in the business too.
The family kept the store running. In July 2026 they announced the sale. "It's awful, and still hard to believe," Donna Lane told Lake Norman Publications. The Charlotte Observer reported on August 1 that the property was listed at $2.75 million. The Observer also reported that whether a hardware store keeps operating there would be up to the buyer.
The listing details explain why that question is so open. The site covers about 10,000 square feet:
- The 2,632-square-foot store, with 17-foot ceilings, a mezzanine, a full second floor and a basement
- A freight elevator connecting all four levels, which the listing calls one of North Carolina's oldest still operating
- A 3,608-square-foot warehouse out back with an interior loading dock and two loading doors, reachable from both the storefront and East Center Avenue
That much space with a loading dock on a side street could support many different uses. No buyer has been named in any reporting so far, and nobody has announced a closing date or a plan for the building.
For now, the most recent published hours come from late July. The store was open Tuesday through Saturday, and Danny took a weekday lunch break from noon to 1. Those hours describe a daytime business: errands before noon, an advice stop after lunch, closed by evening. If you've been meaning to make one more visit for a hard-to-find part or a jar of local honey, call ahead first. The store has long sold everything from nails to honey.
What opened at 185 North Main
Deepwell opened Wednesday, Sept. 16. It's a New Orleans-inspired steakhouse from Joe and Katy Kindred. The couple opened Kindred in Davidson in 2015, Hello, Sailor in 2017 and Albertine in Charlotte in 2024. Craig Deihl, their corporate chef, is Deepwell's executive chef and a co-owner. The timing adds weight to the opening. Kindred has been closed since a fire in May, so for now Deepwell is the Kindreds' only restaurant running north of Charlotte.
The restaurant fills a historic Main Street building of about 4,000 square feet. It has a 1,500-square-foot patio, a 24-seat private dining room with its own bar and wine storage, and windows that look into a glass-enclosed curing and dry-aging room. CharlotteFive described checkered floors, street-lamp style fixtures and velvet chairs, plus a bar set in front of the windows.
The layout matters more for the street than the decor does. The bar opens both indoors and onto the patio, and the patio connects to the downtown social district. A restaurant built this way serves the people walking past in the evening as well as its reservation list.
Getting a seat without waiting weeks
Reservations filled up fast. The night before opening, the first open table for two was Oct. 14 at 8:30 p.m. If you live a few blocks away, the reservation book isn't your only way in.
- Try the bar or the high-tops. Bar seats and walk-in tables are first come, first served. Only the main dining room takes reservations.
- Start small. Axios sampled the smoked redfish dip at $16, the pan-seared crab cake at $23 and the smoked duck gumbo with crawfish at $21. Any of those make a full bar-seat dinner without committing to a large-format steak.
- Save the big order for a planned night. The prime brisket with collard greens, Sea Island red peas and the Kindreds' milk bread was $36, and the prime T-bone was $72.
- Look at dessert. The wood-fired milk bread comes with Cheerwine caramel sauce and sweet cream ice cream.
On the drinks list, the Cypress was $14. It's made with vodka, raspberry shrub, lemon and tarragon. A Madeira Cobbler with peach preserves was $13. Spirit-free options are on the menu too.
The rules behind North Main's evenings
Deepwell's patio connects to the Downtown Mooresville Social District, and the district's rules shape what an evening downtown looks like. It runs daily from noon to 10 p.m. Drinks have to come from a participating ABC-permitted business in a specially marked cup. You can't bring your own alcohol or refill your own cup, and you have to finish or toss an open drink before you leave the district. Cups can't be glass, can hold no more than 16 ounces and must carry the selling business's name.
The district originally ran from McLelland Avenue to Highway 3 along North Church, North Main and North Broad streets. In 2025 the town permanently expanded it to include the Mill 1 businesses on Church Street. That puts both 111 and 185 North Main inside it. It also connects North Main to the mill buildings, which we wrote about in our look at the Powerhouse at Merino Mill.
The town made one more change this month. Starting Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, overnight parking is banned from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. in three downtown public lots. Cars left there during those hours can be towed.
| Lot | Access | 2–6 a.m. parking |
|---|---|---|
| Charles Mack Citizen Center back lot, upper and lower | Church Street | Not allowed |
| Public lot between Moore Avenue and Center Avenue | Church Street | Not allowed |
| Liberty Park lot | Iredell Avenue | Not allowed |
| Public lot at Church Street and Iredell Avenue | Corner of Church and Iredell | Still allowed |
The town's stated goal is consistent access to local businesses. The rule also makes the lots open up overnight, so spaces are free for the next day's crowd. If a dinner on North Main runs late and you'd rather leave the car until morning, Church and Iredell is the lot that still allows it.
October on the calendar
The outdoor season is shorter than planned. The Festival of Food Trucks runs on first Saturdays from April through October along Broad and Main streets. The Oct. 3 edition was going to be the last one of 2026, and it was canceled on Oct. 1 because storms were forecast. That leaves two downtown events this month.
Arts & Acoustics, Friday, Oct. 9, 6 to 9 p.m. Live music inside and outside downtown businesses, with artists creating, showing and selling their work. The Mooresville Downtown Commission runs it with Mooresville Arts, 158 on Main and Waves Entertainment, and no tickets are needed. Mooresville Arts' gallery is in the old depot across from D.E. Turner, so the evening goes right past the storefront at 111 N. Main.
Downtown Mooresville Candy Grab, Friday, Oct. 30, 3 to 5 p.m. The event listing says the 3 p.m. start is "sharp."
If you've already been to downtown Davidson's fall lineup, Oct. 9 is a good Mooresville night to compare it with. Walk Main Street during Arts & Acoustics, then try for a bar seat at Deepwell before the social district closes at 10.
What's still undecided
Everything on the evening side of North Main is in place now. There's a destination restaurant designed for walk-ins, a social district that runs every day until 10 p.m., an expanded boundary that reaches the mill buildings, and parking rules meant to keep spaces turning over. What isn't settled is the daytime anchor. A buyer for 111 N. Main hasn't been named, and the Observer reported that the next owner will decide whether the hardware store stays. The building has 17-foot ceilings, a working freight elevator and a loading dock on East Center Avenue. Those details give a buyer real options, and they explain why the sale matters to everyone who uses this stretch of North Main.
If you own a home near downtown and want to know how this fall's changes on North Main could affect what your place is worth, Terese Odell can walk through it with you, from the market so far this year to what a new owner at 111 N. Main could mean for the block. Start with a home valuation or schedule a free consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
