GREENSBORO, N.C. – Social districts in North Carolina are beginning to grow and evolve.

What You Need To Know

  • Social districts have appeared in cities across North Carolina since Gov. Roy Cooper approved them in fall 2021

  • SouthEnd Brewing Co. owner Seth Kevorkian said the program helps his business sell an extra drink at the end of a customer’s visit, but he'd like the sense of community in the social district grow even stronger

  • The Greensboro City Council recently voted to create the city's second social district on State Street, which will launch on April 1

Social districts have appeared in cities across North Carolina since Gov. Roy Cooper approved them in fall 2021.

Greensboro was one of the first when it launched its downtown social district, the BORO, in March 2022. From noon until 9 p.m., it allows customers to walk around the district with specially marked plastic cups filled with alcoholic beverages they’ve bought at participating businesses, which can be identified by stickers in the front window. 

SouthEnd Brewing Co. owner Seth Kevorkian said the program helps his business sell an extra drink at the end of a customer’s visit. 

“We bought a certain number of cups and we’ve been going through them at a pretty steady rate,” Kevorkian said. “It’s a small but noticeable bump in overall beer sales.” 

He said he would like the sense of community in the social district get even stronger. 

“There’s not a lot of, 'Hey, I’m going to take this and my friend’s gonna get something from there and we’re going to meet over at this park and sit down and talk.’ It’s more of a bar hopping sort of thing,” Kevorkian said. 

The Greensboro City Council recently voted against expanding the BORO to include City Center Park and the Tanger Center, but they did vote to create a second, separate social district on State Street. Greensboro officials said the State Street Social District will launch on April 1 at noon. 

Bull City Cider taproom manager Jessica Harris said she’s thrilled. State Street is a smaller, tight-knit area lined with businesses and neighborhoods. In her words, adding a social district to the area is a "no-brainer."

"It’s giving us more business. It’s giving Cafe Pasta more business, La Bamba, I can see no downsides to it. We don’t have a problem now with drunk people,” Harris said. 

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A Greensboro Police Department spokesperson said they are not seeing a negative crime impact downtown from the social district.

Many North Carolina cities have implemented social districts, including Durham, Wendell, Hickory and Albemarle. City leaders said the social districts have been successful and are increasing their presence to bring in more nightlife and tourism to rural areas.