New Owners Discuss NoDa Company Store Rebranding to Relic NoDa

In August 2025, Jesse Fell and Brandon Camp took over operations at NoDa Company Store, the third ownership duo at the popular hangout in just two years after the owners of BrickTree Brewing bought the business from founders Joey Hewell and Scott Lindsley in February 2024.

Fell and Camp spent the winter slowly making the space feel more like their own with renovations and a change in decor. In spring, they began to quietly roll out a rebranding that was made official on their social media pages this week: NoDa Company Store has now become Relic NoDa.

The new owners said they have called the indoor bar at the historic home Relic, while the outdoor bar will be known as Riot.

With all the changes taking place at 3221 Yadkin Ave., we sat down with Fell and Camp to talk about their vision for Relic NoDa and their passion for highlighting local artists, especially the recently displaced street vendors of the neighborhood. 

Ernesto Brett Dennison: So tell me about the history of this place.

Jesse Fell: This house was originally a duplex built in 1905, as part of the Mecklenburg Mill District, which was one of the three mill communities that called North Charlotte home. Similar to many mill homes that are still standing in our neighborhood that you may recognize along North Davidson Street, this space lends its history and charm to enhance our story of honoring the past while also celebrating the future. 

So there were actually two houses on either side of our center wall. The original fireplace is here and all of the windows are still somehow original. I believe most of the hardwood floors are still original as well. And then at some point, it was a painter’s home/studio, then a sculptor’s studio.

The NoDa Company Store was opened 10 years ago, creating a space for community and initiating a space for everyone to come together, and that continues to evolve today. We’re extremely grateful to be the stewards currently maintaining and enhancing this space. Geographically, we’re dead center in NoDa, but still tucked away just enough to where it feels like a hidden gem. People come in often who have lived here for years and never knew this was here.

Tell me more about this iteration, the one you inherited.

Brandon Camp: When Scott [Lindsley] and Joey [Hewell] opened the business 10 years ago they named it The NoDa Company store. The name was inspired by the neighborhood’s mill history. But there’s a darkness attached to the name, which is why we feel the need to rebrand.

Those mill companies controlled the homes and stores. The way that these company stores worked was on credit. The cost of goods was to a point where these workers would never make enough to pay off their bills, so it was a way to keep the employees in debt.

There’s a lot of dark history with that heritage. The previous owners wanted to pay homage to that history, and in rebranding, we wish to do the same, which is why we are calling our indoor bar Relic.

Is that why you filled it with antiques?

Jesse Fell: Yes! I’ve got a High Point newspaper on the wall from the day that President Kennedy was assassinated. I also have a photo from an article on the 200th anniversary of Charlotte in 1962. We have several historical photos of Charlotte. There’s one photo of East Trade Street in 1924 where you can see horses, carriages and the tram.

Woodrow Wilson in 1916 in Uptown Charlotte. We love history and we wanted these living relics that we see every day and interact with every day to act as little pieces of history that still influence our lives. We also have random pieces from other well-known businesses like a big armoire from the original Amélie’s, and a few fabulous pieces from the amazing curators at Nouveau Chapeau in Plaza Midwood. 

Where does art fit in with the antiques?

Jesse Fell: The art is playing into that heritage. This idea of living relics, stories of our past, memories that influence the art that our neighbors are living with and creating today, this is a central theme that we hold as a core value for this iconic space. We do have a few local artists on the walls, and I am so looking forward to bringing in more. 

I want this to be a living gallery where guests can walk in and immediately feel the history, see the pieces that we have selected and feel the energy of our space that combines years of art, culture and advocacy. The number one word that guests use to describe the space is cozy, and I think that’s a perfect setting for an ever-evolving gallery. Art is always growing, it’s always changing as it captures our perspectives of the world. 

So, with that in mind, how do you curate the art on display? How do you find who fits in here?

Jesse Fell: In our own lives we run into pieces that we love and purchase. Some of them are from artists who live in the neighborhood. I love to grow our collection organically. That way we’re getting to showcase our neighbors and friends, people who have something to say.

Brandon Camp: I think just as important as Charlotte artists are artists around the world. A key element of our space is that we curate wines and beer from outside Charlotte, same with our art. We have spent a lot of time acquiring pieces that hold special meaning to us personally, along with modern art from my favorite design house Seletti, which you’ll notice in the monkeys, the mice and the heart that are strategically placed around the space. 

It’s not just visual art pieces that we are highlighting, fashion is a big part of our identity as well. We have a piece from Fiorella Mancini, an avant-garde artist that was out of Venice, Italy; a piece from John Paul Gaultier when he did his first theater show in Paris; and a collaboration from Dolce & Gabbana and Jean-Michel Basquiat in 2000. There’s even more to come, as I’m a collector of haute couture.

Are you looking to rotate works in and out or create more of a permanent collection?

Jesse Fell: I think a little bit of both. Some of our pieces will stay, but then we want to keep rotating with the idea of the gallery aspect of this space being ever-changing. I am never going to stop buying from art shows and then antique shows. It’ll always just be adding stuff to the walls

And is it for sale?

Brandon Camp: The newer pieces, absolutely. The curated collection is a different conversation; these pieces are truly priceless. I spent years acquiring these very rare moments of history.

How do you handle sales?

Jesse Fell: It’s on a consigned basis. The artist sets the price. We’ve been offered commission, but so far, I haven’t accepted, because it’s still a new thing. So at the beginning we just want to give the artists a space.

How does the current collection cultivate the atmosphere for you and your customers?

Jesse Fell: Right now we have Mary Sydnor Digby and she paints these beautiful little flowers and shiny mushrooms. They’re in these cute little frames that I love. The vibe we’re going for is a juxtaposition of antique pieces with modern art. There are 200-year-old books and lithographs beside modern art, mixed with iconic moments in fashion history.

What’s your favorite piece in the building?

Jesse Fell: We have a llama smoking a cigarette from a dear friend of mine. She’s from France. She used to design jewelry for Lanvin back in the ’80s. She gave me the llama to thank me for helping her move. It’s on a tile with a little wire.

Brandon Camp: My favorite is probably Walter’s piece. “Night” by Walter Sanders is an impressionist view of Uptown. My other favorite is absolutely the wrap on our entire building. I remember it was what made me notice this building when I first moved here 10 years ago and immediately understood this was a special space.

So, if a business wants to do this and curate their own art on the wall, what advice would you give them?

Jesse Fell: Start talking to artists, go to art shows. I would start with Charlotte Studio Artists, obviously. There’s so many people out there, and there are so many markets too. The NoDa Bizarre market that the neighborhood does a few times a year always has great artists. Even our market that we have on weekends is a great way to find something new. We have been discovering new amazing artists every weekend since we have started the NoDa Neighborhood Market. 

I understand that you have made it your goal to give space for the displaced street vendors of the neighborhood. Can you tell me more about that?

Jesse Fell: Yes. We used to be street vendors ourselves. We got to know a lot of them out here on the block, and we understand the culture. We’ve seen both sides of it, the good and the bad. The vendors have this interesting culture where everyone takes care of each other. A true symbiosis.

I also know several of the business owners have had negative interactions with people not respecting them. There became a toxic dynamic in the neighborhood, with vendors who felt entitled to be able to just take up any space that they wanted. We saw how that got way out of hand, we literally watched the shooting happen that was the catalyst for a call to action against street vendors, but banning street vendors completely was not the right course of action. The artists should have been offered a better forum for consideration, because they are integral to the fabric of Charlotte.

Brandon Camp: The businesses in NoDa are the backbone of what makes this neighborhood special, and the businesses must be protected first. That said, there are empty spaces around that could be utilized, and there could be a compromise here. I absolutely understand all of the business owners’ frustrations, even now more than ever as I am a business owner, but there’s a conversation to be had here. The question is, how do we solve this issue? 

I’m on the board for the neighborhood business association [NoDa NBA]. I’ve been speaking out there to push for a happy medium. Unfortunately, that falls on deaf ears as the NoDa NBA continues to choose inaction on an issue that is not only critical to our neighborhood, but also to Charlotte as a whole.

What played into your decision to take these artists in and how has that experience worked out since starting?

Jesse Fall: To put it simply, they’re a part of this community. We’re the arts district. So why are we not celebrating all the artists that we have out here? We want to lead by example and show other businesses that we can partner with our local vendors. We’re lucky to have this enormous space that isn’t being used 100% of the time, so why not let artists come into the arts district and showcase something special? 

This neighborhood has changed dramatically over the last 5-10 years and I can’t wait to see what our community turns into. The future of this neighborhood is bright only if we lean into supporting and providing spaces for the artists and street vendors. This has been a key element to what makes our neighborhood so special, so magical, so different from other neighborhoods in Charlotte. It’s in my personal opinion, the best neighborhood in Charlotte. This is the only way we keep it that way.

I understand that you do three arts-related events each week. Tell me about that lineup.

Brandon Camp: Every Wednesday is called Rotation, which is an open jam session hosted by our own Syx, where we offer the space to anybody who wants to jump on stage with an ever-changing group of artists that honestly blow me away every week with their talent.

On rotating Sundays, we’ll have Heartbeat, which is a dance party — think disco, underground ballroom, counter culture. The goal is simply to dance your heart out. Then, of course, the vendor markets on Saturdays. We are testing out shifting to night markets on Saturday, so we are excited to see how that resonates with the community.

Relic NoDa, formerly NoDa Company Store, is located at 3221 Yadkin Ave. Follow them on Instagram here.