A banner strung high over North Salem Street says it plainly: "Downtown Apex is open for business!" It has hung there since January, through a one-way traffic pattern, a springtime construction pause tied to an electrical redesign, and months of reported foot-traffic declines that more than one shop owner has put at double digits. The banner is accurate. Whether it tells you everything worth knowing before your next trip downtown is a separate question.
Most people who live near Salem Street have absorbed the same three facts by now: the street is one-way, the businesses are still there, and the whole thing wraps up in October. That third part is the one worth slowing down on, because the town's own construction paperwork tells a longer story than the banners and the reassurances do. If you're planning your fall around Salem Street, the gap between what you've heard and what's actually contracted matters.
What's Actually Open Right Now
The plywood and orange cones make downtown look more disrupted than it is. Walk the sidewalks on either side of Salem Street, which have stayed open for the full run of construction, and you'll find the same storefronts that have anchored this block for years.
Cocoon Gallery, the textile studio Cynthia Mollenkopf has run on North Salem Street since 2017, is still rotating work from 70 to 80 artists through its space. Virtuoso Jewels, the custom-jewelry shop owned by Larry Seiger, is still open. Anna's Pizzeria is still slicing pies. Bella + Mauve, the boutique owned by Gabrielle Carlin, hasn't closed its doors. The Saturday morning vendor market downtown is still running, and the Historic Apex Depot's Welcome Center is still open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with maps, local history, and the caboose parked next door.
A few things have shifted in ways worth knowing before you head out:
- Salem Street is one-way southbound only, from Saunders Street to West Chatham Street, and has been since Phase 1 began.
- GoApex Route 1 is on a detour that started January 27, 2026, and is expected to run through late 2026. GoCary Route 9, which added Apex service in November 2025, is unaffected and keeps its own stop next to the Historic Apex Depot on Center Street.
- Parking got easier before the street got harder. The town expanded the Saunders Lot by 152 spaces ahead of construction, a 40 percent jump in downtown's overall parking capacity, specifically so visitors wouldn't have to fight the one-way pattern to find a spot.
The Businesses Absorbing the Cost
Being open isn't the same as being unaffected. Anna's Pizzeria manager Steven Perticona has put a number on what construction has done to sales: "We're tracking down anywhere from 10 to 20%." Alleyway Bookstore announced its closure this summer, citing a 64 percent rent increase on top of the construction disruption. Mayor Jacques Gilbert has used his own social media to spotlight Bella + Mauve, saying the boutique may face difficult decisions because of what he called economic pressures.
What business owners have asked for isn't sympathy. It's information. Seiger put it this way when the project hit an unexpected pause in the spring: "The main thing that I think most of the business owners are looking for is communication. So that when we do have a slowdown in construction and the guys aren't here, that we know more about what actually is the holdup, what's going how long it's going to take."
That pause happened in April, when Mayor Gilbert said design tweaks prompted by electrical issues had stalled the work for several weeks. He also told reporters that despite the pause, the project remained on track to finish by October, with two-way traffic returning at that point.
The October Date Everyone Repeats, and What the Town Actually Signed
October has become the number everyone reaches for, and there's a good reason: the mayor said it, on the record, after the very pause that might have called it into question. But the town's own Salem Streetscape project page, the one residents are pointed to for updates, lists something different. Under "Construction Contract Timeline," it reads: January through December 2026.
That's not a contradiction so much as a gap between the message and the paperwork. October is the target the town is communicating. December is the window the contract actually allows. For a resident deciding whether to plan a fall event downtown or wait until the ribbon-cutting to come back, that three-month spread is the detail that changes how you plan, not whether construction is happening.
What This Means for the Rest of Your Year Downtown
Salem Street already gave up one signature event to construction this year. PeakFest moved off its usual Salem Street footprint and onto the Town Hall Campus on Hunter Street for its May 2 date, the town's own way of protecting a beloved event from an active work zone rather than waiting on the calendar to clear.
A few dates worth watching if you're a regular at downtown's calendar of events:
- The Apex Latino Arts Festival, typically held downtown in late September, celebrating the town's Latino community with music, dance, and a food truck rodeo.
- The Tour of Frights, the town's Halloween home and business decoration showcase, which usually opens registration in late September for displays live by mid-October.
- The Apex Rotary Christmas Parade, which brings marching bands, carols, and a visit from Santa through historic downtown Apex each year.
None of these have been announced as moved or altered as of this writing. But given that the contract timeline runs through December and PeakFest has already set the precedent of relocating rather than waiting, it's worth checking the town's calendar closer to each date rather than assuming Salem Street will look the way it always has.
How Residents Are Actually Helping
The town's pitch to residents has been more specific than "shop local." Downtown Apex is home to 132 local businesses, and the town estimates that about 67 cents of every dollar spent at one of them stays in Apex, supporting other local businesses and local jobs.
The most visible push this summer has been the Local Spot Passport, a program running from June 19 through September 7 that turns Salem Street's designated Social District into something like a scavenger hunt. Pick up a passport at any participating Sip Stop or at the Historic Depot at 220 North Salem Street, collect signatures at Sip Stops and Shop Stops as you go, and turn in a completed passport at the Depot for a wine tumbler or pint glass and an entry into a summer prize pack. With the program closing out in the next two weeks, this is close to the last call if you haven't picked one up yet.
Beyond the passport, the town has been encouraging gift card purchases as a way to bank support for a business now and redeem it whenever the street feels easier to visit. It's a small mechanism, but it's the kind of thing that matters more in a year like this one than in a normal one, when a business's slow month can be a construction month rather than a seasonal one.
The Real Takeaway for Anyone Who Lives Here
The banner is right. Downtown Apex is open. Cocoon Gallery, Virtuoso Jewels, Anna's Pizzeria, and Bella + Mauve are all still there, still worth the walk down a one-way street that's a little harder to reach by car than it used to be. What the public messaging leaves out is that the finish line the town keeps naming and the finish line the town actually signed up for aren't the same date. If you're planning a fall visit, a holiday parade outing, or just wondering when Salem Street goes back to two-way traffic, build in room for that gap rather than circling October on your calendar and being surprised in November.
Apex has always been a town that pays attention to its own Salem Street, from the 1910s storefronts to a downtown master plan that's been in motion since 2019. Watching how this construction season actually closes out is just the latest chapter, and it's one worth reading closely rather than taking on faith.
If you're thinking about what a home near this kind of walkable, evolving downtown is actually worth, or what it takes to buy or sell in a town where the character of Salem Street is part of the value, Shannon Kennedy would love to talk it through with you. Let's Connect.
