North Main Street (a.k.a NoMa), then + now, are like night and day. With development on the rise and new business booming, gone are the days of a half-empty Cottontown.

Six years ago, Lamb’s Bread Vegan Cafe was surrounded by empty buildings, its owner watching nearby businesses shut down (high five for hanging on, y’all ✋). Today, Lamb’s Bread is a neighbor to two recently opened coffee shops – and the reason for the “coffeetown” nickname – Curiosity Coffee and Indah Coffee ☕️, as well as popular BBQ + cocktail spot – The War Mouth 🐷, a wine shop – Vino Garage 🍷, a *cutting edge* barber shop – Circa Barber Shop (inside Indah) 💈 + a rustic furniture store – Copper Barn 🛋. Just to name a few.

The boom didn’t just happen overnight, though. Bringing more biz to the Cottontown/Elmwood Park Corridor has always been a goal for the community + City of Columbia. Along with growing the area, it’s important to the community to 1. make it more attractive to business owners while 2. avoiding gentrification by 3. keeping the culture + heritage of NoMA true to its roots.

In 2014, the U.S. Census reported the 2-mile span of the NoMa area (Earlewood - Cottontown - Elmwood) is 50%+ owner occupied homes with median incomes – which is a recipe for thriving.

Coming soon to the neighborhood: Pelican’s SnoBalls 🍧 , Cottontown Brew Lab 🍺 , Cromer’s P-nuts 🥜, Chocolate Nirvana 🍫 , Columbia Presbyterian Church ⛪️ + a yet-to-be-named restaurant🍴 (site purchased by Fresh Capital for $463,000).

15 min read / Free Times