Business owners on Hillsborough Street have been making changes in the last few months to make their establishments more appealing to University students.

Businesses such as East Village Grill and Two Guys have been making changes in appearance and management in order to stay updated for their customers. 

“A lot of businesses have been doing some new marketing and really trying to reach out to their customers,” Jeff Murison , the executive director of the hillsborough street community service corporation, said.

In addition to existing businesses making changes, there are also two new businesses that will be opening on Hillsborough St. in the near future.  Chile Bomba will be opening where the Mexican restaurant El Rodeo used to be located. According to Murison , the new business is under the same ownership as El Rodeo and is undergoing some re-branding changes.

“They are under new management and they are doing a lot of renovations to the building. It’s going to be brighter and more welcoming; the same place everyone knows and loves with a new face,” Murison said.

Chipotle, a chain mexican grill restaurant, will be opening on Hillsborough St. within the next month. It is replacing what used to be a convenience store.

Some businesses, such as East Village Grill, have made small changes. Taylor Matthews, a manager at East Village, said most of the changes were about updating the restaurant and making it stay relevant for customers.

“All restaurants are going to evolve at some point and it was just time for East Village to evolve a little bit,” Matthews said.

In addition to the internal changes, East Village is now offering a dog-friendly patio area for customers. Matthews said that they decided to make the deck dog-friendly after realizing that Raleigh does not have a lot of places where dogs are allowed.

East Village is now also relying on locally grown produce for the restaurant.  Matthews said they decided to make this change in order to give back to and stay involved with the community. 

“Most everyone seems to like the changes so far,” Matthews said.

The reason for all of the changes, according to Catherine Hilla , a senior in business administration, who interned with the hillsborough community service corporation, is that businesses want to be more appealing to the student body.

“Owners noticed that their businesses weren’t showing that they wanted people to come in,” Hilla said.

Business owners are hoping to appeal to the student body with these new updates on Hillsborough St., according to Hilla .

“We want to inform students about these changes so that students will want to come out on Hillsborough Street,” Hilla said.

Murison said the updates are just an extra way to make the street welcoming to the student body.  The updates coupled with the finished street renovation project create an environment that students will enjoy, Murison said.

“It has become more pedestrian friendly and more welcoming.  It is clean and safe and there is more parking available,” Murison said.

Murison also said businesses have been remodeling frequently in order to keep up with the new businesses coming onto the street as well as the existing businesses that are constantly renovating to appeal to the public.

“People are putting in more investment because everybody on the street is stepping up their game,” Murison said.

Murison said that he hopes students will frequent all of the businesses on Hillsborough St. and enjoy all of the updates that have taken place in the past few years.

“We’re ready for students to come back to campus and re-discover Hillsborough Street and all it has to offer,” Murison said.