By Giulia Silverstein
For decades, the Corner has epitomized Charlottesville’s character as an amalgamation of students and locals. Visually, this iconic strip has seen minimal transformation over the years, but that doesn’t mean everything has remained the same.
Cal Mincer grew up in Charlottesville, but he’s only recently become a business owner, so he experienced the Corner’s evolution as a consumer. Mincer says the strip’s dynamic most noticeably changed with the arrival of Bodo’s Bagels in 2005. “That changed everything. I remember for all those years, we were like, ‘Bodo’s is coming,’ and now I can’t imagine life without it.” (The Bodo’s Corner location infamously took a decade to open, marked with a sign teasing its arrival.)
Mincer inherited his father’s eponymous shop following Mark Mincer’s death from brain cancer in January. The store’s orange and navy awning has adorned the Corner for nearly 70 years, and the younger Mincer hopes to maintain the unique essence his father provided.
“It does have a legacy,” he says. “We are proud of it, and dad was very good at this. So there is some pressure to continue the work he did.”
Mincer plans to make small changes, but he hopes they won’t influence the institution’s integrity. “It’s all basically the same vision, and I don’t expect customers to notice much difference at all, other than just the loss of his presence.”
Mincer is a member of the Corner Merchants Association, and its members collaborate to protect the cohesiveness and economic stability of the Corner. “We meet, and we talk about things on the Corner and events that are coming up,” he says. “Things we want to plan for and stuff like that. We work together.”
The 7 Day Jr. Food Mart replaced Cohn’s on the Corner in January. Rahul Patel owns the chain and has other locations in the area.
“I love the Charlottesville area,” he says. “I’ve been there for two and a half years, from my first location to now, and it is a really good spot. I’ll try to stick there in the long run.”
Patel has already developed relationships with other Corner business owners. “They know me very well. We talk as normal persons,” he says. His involvement, however, is limited. His focus is building his franchise. “Once I set up the business, I jump into the next one. So, I’m not there that much.”
Patel is not a part of the Corner Merchants Association, but he’s eager to involve himself. “There are certain things I don’t know about, but if I got information, I would love to join that,” he says. “I would love to help my community.”
Paul Collinge started Heartwood Books on Elliewood Avenue in 1975, and he and his shop have remained constants amid surges of change. While the Corner retains Charlottesville’s old-time charm, Collinge has noticed urbanization. His street used to be lined with trees and individual retail stores; now, office buildings occupy much of that space. Shops have been replaced by food chains. “You used to be able to go to a travel agency. We had dry cleaners,” says Collinge. “There were a lot of kinds of service businesses and retail businesses that really don’t exist anymore. They’ve been replaced mostly by food-related things, including alcohol and coffee.”
Collinge attributes part of the differences to the University of Virginia. UVA’s popularity brought more foot traffic. While partly fueling small businesses, it meant internal expansion that increased competition. University restaurants, like Chick-fil-A and the UVA bookstore, diminish the necessity of local enterprises. It also made students the focus of area owners. Today, roughly 48 percent of Charlottesville is UVA-affiliated students, which means when classes are in session, nearly half of Charlottesville wants cheap, quick meals that the Corner must provide.
But despite the changes, Collinge’s business model has mostly stayed the same. Online sales have grown, and paperbacks are more popular. But the customer base hasn’t changed. “The students that come in here are very similar to the students that have always come in here,” says Collinge. “They may be a little different, but they like books. And so we like them.”