In August, a giant inflatable milkshake cup stood in front of a half-built restaurant in Tramway along U.S. 1. The Rant described the building as "going-up-fast." The cup turned out to be a reliable sign. Dairi-O's location page now lists Sanford at 127 Marketplace Drive with a "Now Open" banner.
Most of the other names in Sanford's growth news have no milkshake cup yet. Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Dutch Bros, 7 Brew, Culver's, Starbucks, Whataburger, BJ's and Ulta have all turned up in local headlines this year. Some of them are open or under construction, and others haven't gone past a planning filing.
Every new restaurant or store in Sanford works through roughly the same sequence. The higher a project sits, the closer it is to opening.
Step two is where most of this year's headlines sit, and the committee's role is narrower than it sounds. As The Rant explained in its October 8 report, the TRC "only looks at whether proposals meet city, county and state requirements," and approval "or even submission of a proposal for consideration – is not a concrete indicator that the project will happen."
| Business | Location | Step reached |
|---|---|---|
| Dairi-O | 127 Marketplace Drive, Tramway | Open |
| Waffle House | 3132 Tramway Road | Open |
| Chipotle | N.C. 87 near Lidl | Open since summer |
| Provision Ace Hardware | U.S. 1 and Tramway Road | Under construction |
| Target | Riverbirch Corner | Site work underway, fall 2027 target |
| Wedgies | 126 S. Moore Street, downtown | Upfit permit issued in August |
| Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse | Adams Village, N.C. 87 | Site plans on September TRC agenda |
| Dutch Bros | Adams Crossing, N.C. 87 | On October TRC agenda |
| 7 Brew | Riverbirch Corner | On October TRC agenda |
| Starbucks | Tramway Road and U.S. 1 | Proposed in July |
| Culver's | Tramway Road | Proposed |
| Del Taco | 3116 S. Horner Boulevard | Reported as coming |
| CiCi's Pizza | 814 Spring Lane | Announced |
| Whataburger, BJ's, Ulta Beauty | Adams Village | Reported interest only |
Three of the fourteen rows are open. The rest of this post goes up the ladder one rung at a time, starting at the bottom.
Whataburger, BJ's Wholesale Club and Ulta Beauty all trace back to one source. On April 16, The Rant summarized a Triangle Business Journal report saying those chains, along with Olive Garden, were "eyeing" Adams Village along N.C. 87 just south of Walmart. The TBJ story relied on people "with knowledge of the project" and did not get confirmation from the chains themselves.
Del Taco and CiCi's have specific street addresses attached. According to the Rant, Del Taco is coming to 3116 South Horner Boulevard, between Jersey Mike's and Sanford Honda. CiCi's announced what would be its 14th North Carolina location at 814 Spring Lane, near Lowe's Foods. The CiCi's announcement came in November 2025. As of the August roundup, it was still described as a plan.
Olive Garden has moved up a rung since April. A September TRC agenda listed a 6,350-square-foot Olive Garden outparcel and a 5,600-square-foot Longhorn Steakhouse outparcel at Adams Village, plus a 3,500-square-foot Aspen Dental. The Rant's August roundup put Olive Garden's expected Sanford opening in 2027.
The October agenda adds the coffee rivalry. Dutch Bros, founded in Oregon in 1992, is proposed for Adams Crossing at Adams Village. 7 Brew, founded in Arkansas in 2017, is proposed at Riverbirch Corner in west Sanford. CASTO, an Ohio-based developer, is redeveloping Riverbirch with Target as its anchor. The same agenda includes a second Adams Village outparcel, a 5,157-square-foot building "for one or two tenants," with the tenants unnamed.
Tramway has its own items at this stage. A July proposal would put what the Rant called Sanford's third Starbucks in a multi-tenant building at Tramway Road and U.S. 1, between CVS and Bojangles, sharing the building with a dental office and two other tenants. Culver's, the Wisconsin burger chain, has proposed a 4,500-square-foot restaurant on Tramway Road across from that Bojangles.
Not everything on these agendas is a place to eat. October's list also includes two industrial buildings for STERIS totaling 600,000 square feet at Helix Innovation Park off Hawkins Avenue, and a Rocket Car Wash on N.C. 87.
Wedgies has a different backstory from everything listed so far. It's a Southern Pines sandwich shop that has been on Morganton Road since 1999, serving "hot deli sandwiches on a parbaked pizza crust" cut into wedges. In May, the company announced a second location on Moore Street in downtown Sanford, in the former Java Express next to Sanford Antique Mall. It gave no opening date and said it was "working diligently to get there as quickly as possible."
The City's August permit report lists an issued commercial upfit permit at 126 S. Moore Street. That puts Wedgies above every Adams Village name on the ladder. It also has the smallest footprint on the list, and it's the only one opening downtown instead of along a highway corridor. Its menu is online for anyone who hasn't made the drive to Southern Pines.
Provision Ace Hardware, another business with an existing Southern Pines location, is putting up a two-story building near U.S. 1 and Tramway Road.
The largest project in the pipeline is also the furthest from opening. Land clearing for Target has started at Riverbirch Corner, and the Sanford Area Growth Alliance expects a grand opening in fall 2027. New buildings at the same site will hold a grocery store the Rant described as "new-to-market," meaning it won't be a Lowe's, Food Lion, Aldi, Lidl or Piggly Wiggly. The tenant hasn't been announced. Since 7 Brew is on the October agenda for the same site, Riverbirch could end up with a drive-thru coffee stop built around the Target anchor.
Dairi-O was founded in King, North Carolina, in 1947. Its other locations include Winston-Salem, Clemmons, Kernersville and Asheboro. The Sanford restaurant is open for dine-in and drive-thru from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Nearby, the Waffle House at 3132 Tramway Road is open around the clock. Culver's has proposed the lot right next to it. Sanford's first Chipotle opened this summer on N.C. 87 near Lidl, across from Chick-fil-A.
Taken together, the map sorts itself by geography. Tramway along U.S. 1 is where projects have reached the top of the ladder, with two restaurants open and a hardware store going up. Adams Village on N.C. 87 has the most famous names, but they're mostly site plans and an April news report. Riverbirch Corner has the biggest anchor and the longest timeline.
Downtown Sanford has some fixed dates this fall. The October 10 StreetFest was canceled because of expected impacts from Hurricane Isaias. The rest of the Visit Sanford events calendar still runs through the holidays.
If Wedgies opens on Moore Street by Small Business Saturday, it will be the newest storefront on that downtown walk.
Each of these projects also changes what the roads around Tramway, N.C. 87 and Riverbirch Corner will look like in a year or two. If you're weighing how that growth fits into a move across Sanford or into Moore County, I'm glad to talk through which corridors are changing fastest. Reach out to Jamie McDevitt and Let's Connect.
Jamie will take the time to understand your goals and will work tirelessly to help you reach them. Whether you are moving to the Pinehurst, Southern Pines area to play golf, swing a tennis racket, or simply run or walk through your neighborhood, let Jamie work for you.
