by Jesma Reynolds

With its colorful and informative printed and online maps, Design District Raleigh promotes shopping locally when buying for the home. In addition to its original guide that included retailers in the areas of Cameron Village, Five Points, Seaboard Station, Capital Boulevard, and Whitaker Mill Road, a new DDR Downtown map reflects an ever-growing number of shops downtown.

Here, some recent notable moves and additions:

Crown jewel

Carole Marcotte’s Form and Function is the flagship store within the iconic modernist building at 1700 Glenwood Avenue at Five Points. Marcotte and her husband Richard, the building’s owners, hired Tonic Design (which had a hand in making the former Audio Buys building sustainable several years ago) to get the space retail-ready. After wrapping the exterior in a zinc skin and installing a custom shading system to regulate heat in 2011, architects Vinny Petrarca and Katherine Hogan added a 42-foot elevator tower flanked by a Matt McConnell sculpture for the Marcottes, making the building a modernist gem to behold. With a rooftop garden and Form and Function as its anchor on the second floor, the building also houses Progeny Children’s Shoppe and Interiors, Rider Hall Interiors, and For Your Convenience, an emporium of gifts, accessories, jewelry, local art, and more, on the lower level.

Bold and beautiful

Vintage clothing and furniture commingle at newly opened Finds at 520 N. West St. Owner Evie Dixon’s flair for hunting down objects from the whimsical to the important complements stunning one-of-a-kind vintage clothes sourced by House of Landor’s Mary Beth Paulson. Dixon also offers in-house lacquering that can transform furniture discards into statement pieces. With a boldly imaginative Shaun Richards mural on the exterior, the shop and its stylish mavens have elevated a once-quiet block near Glenwood South.

Fill ’er up

The Warehouse at 1924 recently relocated from Capital Boulevard to 1924 Wake Forest Road. Part interior design workshop and part retail, owners and designers Zandy Gammons and Liles Dunnigan have gathered a handful of boutique vendors for their Private Label Collection, making a one-stop destination for fabrics, upholstery, furniture, and painted flooring. The space also hosts several vintage furniture dealers.  

For more information about these and other shops, visit designdistrictraleigh.com.