PINEVILLE, N.C. — The town of Pineville is just 11 miles from Uptown Charlotte and eight miles from Fort Mill. For years, many said it’s been an area you drive through. Now, people are stopping to explore this hidden gem of a downtown.
On any given day at Margaux’s Wine, Pizza and Market in Pineville, you’ll find owner Kevin Devanney who’s swirling up something special along Main Street.
“When I opened a restaurant during Covid, people thought I was nuts,” he told Channel 9’s Damany Lewis.
Some thought it was a recipe for disaster. With only 12,000 town residents, the town, which was incorporated in 1873, wasn’t considered a destination. It’s only claim to fame — the birthplace of former President James K. Polk.
But Devanney wanted to create a new perception of Pineville. For him, success comes from community.
“It’s our servers, our manager, Ryan, our cooks, the people that come in here every morning, start setting up, work hard to serve everyone, close the doors at the end of the day,” he said. “It’s the people that bring other people in.”
With good people, pies and a strong pour, business is going strong.
“When we opened Margaux’s, this town just kind of exploded,” Devanney said. “Once the development started, you know, it really never stopped.”
The town recently broke ground on a nearby lot to build the first major housing complex in the area in nearly three decades. The complex will house more than 240 units, meaning more families are coming. Local business owners say this growth is needed to continue the momentum.
But to understand where Pineville is going, you have to understand where it’s been. For some business owners, like Allen Jackson, it hasn’t always been easy.
Jackson cuts and lines hair at Slicers Barbershop every day. He said things have changed since he opened the shop 16 years ago.
Shortly after Jackson opened his business, he found cotton lying outside the front door of the barbershop. Jackson said the message was clear.
“I wasn’t wanted anymore, that I wasn’t wanted here,” he said. “It just gave me a bad taste in my mouth.”
But Jackson didn’t back down. Today, he still operates out of the same shop. He says his business, constant customers and the community’s diversity have blossomed since then.
“Oh, it was beautiful. It was a thing that we definitely needed to see,” Jackson said. “It opened up the town a lot more, gave people a different perspective of Pineville, opposed to the one they had from the past. It’s just a small little town that you couldn’t drive through, but now everybody’s welcome to come through at any time.”
Now, Jackson thinks it’s time for Pineville to take the reins and run with it. He credits a business neighbor, Sara Longstreet, with leading the charge.
Longstreet was a toy distributer for 20 years. Ever since moving to Pineville from New York, she’s been running Carolina Scoops Ice Cream.
“I always say Pineville is small town vibes with big city benefits, because of where our location is,” she said.
Several years ago, she turned the once vacant space where her shop now sits into a neighborhood hangout.
“There was a lot of antique shops and just vacant spaces in general down here,” she said. “Kevin’s business, the restaurant Margaux’s, was really the catalyst post-COVID for the revitalization down here, and I just piggybacked on that.”
Today, Longstreet is proud to be in charge of getting things done on Pineville’s Main Street.
“I’m like the unofficial leader down here,” she said. “I’m really just talking and networking with other business owners to find out what our needs, what our challenges are, and relaying that back to the town of Pineville and putting pressure on them to make stuff happen.”
One big accomplishment was turning Pineville into a social district, where people can buy a drink and stroll around downtown.
With more families moving to Pineville, Longstreet says the town is at a crossroads.
“There’s a lot of history in Pineville, so I feel like that part of the community isn’t so open to evolution of Pineville,” she said. “They’re a little bit more resistant and want to hold on to the small-town charm and character here. For that’s our goal too, we just want to see it grow.”
Pineville isn’t just a place you drive past anymore, it’s one where you stop and stay for a while.