Alleyway Bookstore to close in downtown Apex amid rent hike, construction

Downtown Apex is about to lose one of its newer independent storefronts, with Alleyway Bookstore saying it will stop welcoming customers on Aug. 15 after a 64% rent increase and months of disruption tied to the Salem Street construction project. The used-book shop, which opened in 2024, is becoming a visible example of what residents stand to lose when downtown change collides with rising costs.

Alleyway said it had intended to renew its lease, but the combination of higher rent and shifting foot traffic made staying open impossible. The shop has already suspended its book trade-in program as it prepares to close. In a short time downtown, it built a loyal following, with more than 2,000 social media followers and dozens of five-star Google reviews, a sign that it had carved out a niche even as downtown Apex kept changing around it.

Mayor Jacques Gilbert responded by urging residents to keep spending locally and support downtown merchants through the disruption. That message has become more urgent as the effect of construction spreads beyond one storefront. Another downtown business, Bella + Mauve Boutique, has also signaled it may face difficult decisions, raising the question of whether Alleyway is an isolated closure or an early warning for the rest of Main Street.

The pressure comes as Apex pushes ahead with a nearly $4.4 million overhaul of South Salem Street between Saunders Street and Chatham Street. The project is designed to turn the corridor into a more walkable, multi-modal destination, with staggered parallel parking, widened paver sidewalks, urban street trees, decorative light poles, string lighting, planter boxes, wayfinding signs and street furniture. Northbound traffic on the affected stretch is closed while crews install underground soil cells, electrical lines and foundations for 11 new street light poles.

Apex said in a May 19 status update that work slowed in March and April because revised electrical plans were needed, creating an estimated 60-day delay. The town also said GoApex Route 1 began detouring on Jan. 27 because of the project, and that detour is expected to last until late 2026.

The broader effort has deep roots. Apex unanimously adopted its Downtown Master Plan and Parking Study on Dec. 17, 2019, then spent months revising the downtown schematic designs through focus groups, public workshops, a survey and meetings with downtown tenants and property owners before Town Council selected them at a public hearing on Aug. 4, 2021. The town’s capital budget lists the Salem Street Downtown Streetscape, Gathering Space & Alley project at $1 million, and Apex says it maintains 240 miles of municipal streets even as roadway costs continue to exceed Powell Bill funding.

On the town’s own Salem Streetscape page, the message to merchants is direct: “Keep Loving Local.” For Alleyway Bookstore, and for the businesses still trying to hold their ground on downtown Apex’s main street, the test is whether that support arrives fast enough.