Wilmington Magazine Jan-Feb 2023

There are businesses here to accommodate one’s needs from
morning to night, while highlighting one of Wilmington’s great
qualities—an abundance of entrepreneurs. To date, the Cargo
District is home to over 50 businesses ranging from hair salons
to bottle shops, jewelers, photography studios, a coworking space,
clothing stores and more.
A Place to Start and
A Space to Grow
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, Sarah Mertz
was working on a passion project that involved sourcing plants and
selling them via Instagram with no-contact drop-off. Its popularity
made her believe she was onto something and it’s safe to say she
was. Today her business, The Plant Outpost, has seemingly grown
alongside the Cargo District. Mertz is now in her third location, the
largest to date, but has continued to stay loyal to the neighborhood
when it came time to move shop.
“When I first started The Plant Outpost, I only intended to do
pop-ups and weekly deliveries. I had a friend who was involved in
the early stages of The Cargo District development, who had been
a big motivator in pushing my plant business. He told me I should
open a shop and I just kind of laughed. One day I met him over in
the District to see what this place was and jokingly said, ‘What if I
had a plant shop in a shipping container?’”
In 2020, Mertz opened The Plant Outpost in a 20-foot shipping
container. Her location beside Queen Street Tattoo, and across
from Mess Hall restaurant and Alcove Beer Garden, lent plenty of
foot traffic. Yet in just two years, plenty has changed.
Mess Hall recently moved to a brick-and-mortar on Wrightsville
Ave. with True Blue brand, Beat Street, taking its place in the
shared space with Alcove. Cheesesmith traded their food truck for
four walls, opening their brick-and-mortar in July of 2021. Owners
Molly and Brendan Curnyn recently announced their expansion
into soft serve with plans to utilize their vacant space between
Cheesesmith and The Plant Outpost for Molly’s Soft Serve, which
is opening this spring. Across the street, Raleigh-based Bull City
Cider Works opened in the fall of 2022.
“I have seen so many changes,” says Mertz. “From actual
parking lots and sidewalks being put in, buildings changing, lots
of new businesses, markets and more. There are just a lot more
opportunities for small business owners and it’s a unique area that
tends to draw people in. I think the Cargo District will continue to
get bigger and have more to offer the community.”
When Steve and Kristen Gibbs were forced to relocate their
Ogden bottleshop, Fermental Beer & Wine, the Cargo District
came as a beacon of hope after an exhaustive search.
70 | WilmingtonNCmagazine.com