MONROE, N.C. — The music and entertainment scene in Monroe is changing, thanks to explosive growth among new businesses.
Business owners across the downtown area said Monroe is creating its own version of Nashville’s Music Row.
On a typical Thursday, Friday or Saturday night in Monroe, the streets ring with music.
At one of Monroe’s newer businesses, Home Brew Craft Beer and Smoothies, owner Greg Moore said more and more people are visiting downtown.
“We’re meeting more and more people every month. This year’s been amazing. We thought we did well last year — this year’s been humbling to say the least,” Moore said.“We’re meeting more and more people every month. This year’s been amazing. We thought we did well last year — this year’s been humbling to say the least,” Moore said.
His business, on South Main Street, opened in May 2021. Moore and his wife worked in corporate America and wanted a change, so they decided to open the small business.
“We’re just fortunate to be able to have a building to have this platform, to have the musicians come in like this, the local artists. It’s the least we could do,” Moore said.
Moore’s Home Brew is the latest business to move to downtown in the past six years. Home Brew and five businesses all offer unique beers, music and entertainment, according to Moore.
“We hear it all the time, ‘Oh my God. We love that we can come to Home Brew, then we can go to Courthouse Self Pour and have a beer, and go to Americana.’ It’s just the biggest compliment that we could hear,” he said.
The businesses benefit from being less than a mile from each other, trading customers and ideas, according to Moore.
“That’s such a concentrated amount of businesses investing in music right now. And we’re really starting to get a little Music Row identity to Monroe, which is — that’s awesome,” he said.
Just a few hundred yards down the road, Southern Range Brewing owner Elise Gatliff said it’s nice to finally have company downtown.
“It was good in the beginning, but we were the only thing down here,” Gatliff said. “So people didn’t even realize that we were open till 11 o’clock at night.”
The tap room opened six years ago and features live music on Fridays and Saturdays. Gatliff said the recent boom of new business is good for everyone.
“People are like, ‘Oh well, you’re competing against each other,’ but not really. The more you have going on, the more people will come down,” Gatliff said.“People are like, ‘Oh well, you’re competing against each other,’ but not really. The more you have going on, the more people will come down,” Gatliff said.
In fact, Southern Range Brewing is set to have its best year ever.
“Now that people realize with all the different businesses, oh there’s a lot to do, we can — we have a social district, we can walk with our beers from place to place, and hear — we can hear every genre of music. We can go see country over at Home Brew, we can come here and have rock and roll,” Gatliff added.
The trend is music to Moore’s ears.
“Yeah, so I mean Monroe is just about getting ready to pop,” he added.
Moore and Gatliff said the downtown businesses featuring music, beer and food communicate all the time, making sure they support each other and do not tread on each other’s ideas and promotions.
They also discuss solutions to local problems or troublesome customers, according to Moore.
Moore said the businesses include his, Southern Range, Americana Beer Co., The Courthouse Self-Pour, East Frank Superette and Kitchen and Franklin Court Grille.
