Editor’s Note: During its meeting on July 14, the Edenton Town Council approved a memorial bench honoring longtime tourism advocate Nancy Nicholls, discussed revisions to the town’s budget, approved a Verizon cell tower lease extension and received updates on Project Teapot and other town business. Those items will be covered in a separate article.

By Nicole Bowman-Layton

EDENTON — After more than a decade of residents asking when Edenton would have a second full-service grocery store, the Edenton Town Council took what officials called its biggest step yet toward making that happen.

Council unanimously approved a performance-based economic development agreement Tuesday night, July 14, designed to support the project and to adopt the town’s first retail incentive policy to guide similar agreements in the future.

The votes represent a significant public step yet in a community effort that has spanned multiple town council iterations, as residents have repeatedly called for another full-service grocery store.

“We apologize that we could not reveal the name of the proposed grocery store until now,” a town official said. “The grocery store business is highly competitive and subject to trade secrets and all of those things. In economic development matters, there are almost always nondisclosure agreements and requirements until you reach a certain stage. We’ve reached that stage now.”

Carlie C’s IGA operates more than 30 stores across North Carolina, with the closest locations in Washington, Chocowinity and Tarboro. The regional chain is known for its full-service meat department, where butchers cut meat in-house, as well as its scratch-made bakery and deli.

The proposed store would become the anchor tenant in Edenton Village Shopping Center, where Tractor Supply opened in late 2025 and Dollar Tree is expected to open later this summer.

A performance-based agreement

Before approving the grocery agreement, council first adopted a retail incentive policy establishing how Edenton may consider performance-based incentives for future retail development projects.

Town Manager Corey Gooden said the policy creates a framework for evaluating future proposals but does not authorize incentives on its own.

“What this does is give us the tools to start any vetting we may have to make recommendations to council for any type of future incentives,” Gooden said.

Council then unanimously approved a specific agreement for the Edenton Village project, contingent upon attorneys completing final legal language.

The agreement approved Tuesday authorizes a performance-based incentive. The draft agreement included in the council’s agenda caps annual payments at $200,000 or 25% of the town’s net operating income generated by the project, whichever is less. Town officials have previously described the proposal as a partnership in which Edenton and Chowan County would each contribute $100,000 annually for five years, creating a potential $1 million incentive package.

Chowan County is considering a $100,000 annual matching commitment for five years. The Board of Commissioners has not yet voted on its participation.

If the county does not consider being involved, Gooden and High said that based on the data regarding the grocer, they feel confident the town could take on the entire incentive if it had to.

“We are pretty confident that the county is going to join us in this,” High said. “We did want to go ahead and move forward to show some steady progress with the retailer and the shopping center owner that we were considering this.”

If approved, the combined incentive package would total $1 million.

Because counties cannot provide this type of incentive directly to a private development project, the county’s contribution would be administered through the Town of Edenton.

The agreement contains several safeguards designed to protect public funds.

No incentive payments would be made upfront. Instead, payments would begin only after the shopping center redevelopment is completed, the grocery store has opened and operated for at least 12 months, and the project has met the agreement’s performance requirements. The town would review the project annually before making each payment.

More than one retailer

Town officials said the agreement is intended to do more than recruit a grocery store.

Gooden said Edenton Village’s leasing agent has indicated that several additional retailers are prepared to move forward once a grocery store lease is finalized.

“We’ve got several retailers sitting waiting for leases to be entered into by a grocery store,” He said.

Gooden said the grocery store redevelopment is expected to exceed $4 million in investment, generating additional sales tax revenue, utility revenue and private investment for the community.

A long-standing community priority

Council members acknowledged that the grocery store has become one of the community’s most frequently discussed economic development issues.

“I would say that the grocery store issue is the one issue that I’m questioned about constantly,” High said. “I know previous councils have had that same question.”

He said the project fits into the town’s broader effort to strengthen Edenton’s economy while preserving its historic character.

“When I see a town that’s stuck at under 5,000 population, and then I see a town where the most recent census says we’re at 4,300, I start having very real concerns,” High said. “Every project that we have in mind is, ‘How can we make Edenton sustainable?’”

High said town leaders are trying to encourage economic growth without changing the community residents’ values.

“We don’t want Edenton to grow so fast or to grow to a certain level where it’s no longer Edenton,” he said. “We want to keep the charm that we have.”

Councilman Bob Turner said the county and town have explored multiple grocery opportunities over the years before arriving at the current proposal. “This is a fit for us. This is a fit for them. … It’s not like they’re banging on the doors to come in here.”

Next steps

Tuesday’s votes approve Edenton’s participation in the proposed incentive package, but the project is not complete.

Chowan County commissioners must still decide whether to approve their portion of the agreement.

For town leaders, however, Tuesday’s meeting marked an important milestone by allowing them, for the first time, to publicly identify the grocery chain they hope will bring a full-service supermarket back to Edenton Village Shopping Center.