[piano intro] - [Announcer] This program was made possible by.

[soft music] ♪ [water splashing] [soft music] - [Narrator] Heart of NC is dedicated to lifting up cultural experiences in Randolph County, like hearing homegrown bluegrass music at the Sunset or Liberty theaters, taking home pottery from internationally renowned artists in Seagrove, the pottery capital of the country.

Learning NASCAR's legacy at the Petty Museum and feeding giraffes at the largest natural habitat zoo in the world.

Heart of NC wants you to know all Randolph County has to offer.

Experience Randolph, the Heart of North Carolina.

[soft music] [soft music] - I'm learning that some of the best leaders are the ones that can change their mind and go, you know what?

I did not do that right.

Let's start over.

- Yeah.

- You know, and it was funny, before we, I knew we were gonna tape today, Saturday at The Table, we had a new menu and it didn't go well.

You know, there were a lot of things that I thought were gonna work and I realized after the day, it didn't work.

- [Luke] Yeah.

- But to be okay that it didn't work.

And guess what?

We have Tuesday to do it again.

You know?

And to be okay with that.

- Right?

- So it's okay that this building has been sitting here.

I don't want it to sit here a lot longer.

But I also know timing is always so critical.

- [Luke] Yeah, shifting directions isn't failure.

- It's not failure.

And what a thing to learn, you know?

And people talk about pioneering something, cultivating something that's never been.

- Right.

- You know?

- Yeah.

- But it also doesn't mean that you have all the answers when you start.

- [Luke] Yeah.

Hello and welcome to "Making North Carolina," a series illuminating the driving forces behind the creations and passions of some of North Carolina's most exciting entrepreneurs.

This episode features Dustie Gregson, owner of The Table, farmhouse bakery, co-owner of the upcoming Mill 133 Boutique Hotel and owner of the Neal Building, a future food hall that will include a variety of vendors focused on bringing the community together around food and art.

Dustie began her career as an interior designer working out of her home.

Then 10 years ago, she took the leap into commercial development when she bought a nearly 100 year old building in Asheboro, North Carolina and converted it into The Table.

That building was originally part of the Cranford Hosiery Mill constructed at the center of a town booming from the textile industry.

As that industry began to disappear from Asheboro, many abandoned buildings were left behind.

Now inspired by the success of The Table, Dustie is developing all remaining Cranford Mill structures into three distinct gathering places that will weave together people from every corner of her community.

My name is Luke Gregson and I'm Dustie's oldest son.

Join me as I talk with my mother about what inspires her creativity and what motivates her to revive forgotten spaces right here in the heart of North Carolina.

- I know that they say, well, you're an entrepreneur and you started a business and I did start a business, but for me it's so much more than a business, because it's something I've given my life to in the last eight years.

It's something that Andy and I have, your dad, has, we've sacrificed things, but we've also gained so much more.

Andy and I have always talked about it, because as far as opening a business, we didn't need to open a business.

We didn't need it.

We were gonna be empty nesters.

And I felt like I birthed a girl.

I had three sons and I called The Table my girl, because it's really been like raising this beautiful being.

And because of The Table and because of the connections that we've made with our staff and the people that come through our doors, our world has gotten so big.

It's brought life to our family.

It's brought life to our marriage.

And I hope that it's brought life to the people that work here.

- You have cultivated a space here that is inviting, it's warm, it's open, it's inclusive.

When you started this venture, you had no idea how to run a restaurant.

How did that work?

In the beginning?

- I honestly thought that I was gonna open up a design studio of some sort, 'cause that's kind of where my background was and I felt comfortable with that.

But I would drive through town and I'm like, hmm, I don't think that's what this community needs right now.

But I really wanted to open up a design studio 'cause I don't know how to do anything else.

And I had this moment of feeling like, no, you need to open up space for people to come.

Because there really, at that time, there really wasn't a whole lot downtown.

I would always drive around town trying to find the ugliest building I could, because I love to make something beautiful out of something that's not so beautiful.

And I remember driving by here and walking in this building.

- [Luke] Yeah.

- It was so bad.

It had green carpet and a ceiling that was caving in and mold everywhere and paneled walls and it was awful.

And I walked in and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is beautiful.

Because all I could see were the windows and it was just like, this is incredible.

So I called your dad and I'm like, "Could you come look at it?"

And he walked in, he goes, "You are kidding."

And I'm like, "No, it's perfect."

I thought, okay, well we'll open up a coffee shop.

And I knew nothing about coffee.

In fact, you would come home and go, "Mom, you own a coffee shop and you have what?

Folgers?"

I mean, I knew nothing about coffee.

So I remember I'm like, okay, I'm gonna open up a bakery, because my mom made granola and my dad knows how to bake bread.

I did my homework and realized that I didn't think a bakery would financially make it for the amount of money I was gonna have to put into this building.

And so I thought, okay, well I'm gonna open up a restaurant.

And at the time I thought, we're gonna roast our coffee, we're going to make our bread.

We're, I mean, we're gonna do everything.

So when I say I knew nothing about restaurant business, I knew nothing.

And so surrounding myself with people that did, was the key.

Surround yourself with people that want the best for you.

Because I think the hardest thing probably in any business is there's such a pull to try to please everyone.

And you start losing sight of your vision.

- Yeah.

- You know, because you want to make everyone happy.

- Yeah.

- And that's impossible.

But when you surround yourself with people who really care and desire the best for you, it gives you a confidence to do it and to do it well.

- A beautiful part about the concept of The Table is that it opens spaces for other people to pursue dreams, showcase their art, the things they create.

Why did you feel like it needed to be a part of this vision for you?

- I was blessed to be able to stay home with you and your brothers, but I needed that outlet artistically.

These shows would give you an opportunity to showcase what you had done and people to buy them and that kind of thing, so I think those shows are special to me, because it gave me opportunity to grow in my art.

I think that's why I love to be able to do that here.

The Table has expanded your dad and I's world, because we've gotten to know people and we have the ability to showcase them because of The Table.

Because of the Mill behind us and the other buildings that gives us the opportunity to have space for them.

Your dad is really incredible.

I tell him all the time, I'm like, "I am so low maintenance."

He goes, "Yeah, you don't cost me much, but you sure love buying buildings."

So it is like I, but I realize that for me, I just can't stop.

- There is something so important about naming something, how it defines its existence, how it sets expectations.

What's the inspiration for your naming of something?

- So many things that I could recall from my childhood to raising three boys happened around the table.

You know, celebrations as a society, the things that happen around food or gathering at the table, we celebrate, we mourn, we cry, we have conversation.

And I think it's something that every culture is familiar with.

- [Luke] Right.

- Every background you're familiar with that stopping place, that place of where you stop and you have a meal together.

- Yeah, it's an invitation.

- It's an invitation, yes.

- Right.

- Our kind of tagline is, welcome to your seat at the table.

May you be met with belonging, marked with inspiration and found in community.

Met with belonging means that when you walk through that door that you feel like someone actually prepared that space.

Marked with inspiration, I want you to feel inspired when you come in here.

Inspired to have conversation, inspired by the way this feels, inspired to be creative.

And then found in community.

So I think all three of those things are the things that drive me to create space for people.

The Mill in the back, I remember wanting to name it something really cool.

So I was thinking all the time of like, what's some great name?

And the only thing that kept coming to me was Mill 133 and and that's the address, is Church Street is 133 Church Street.

But there's a beautiful scripture in Psalm and it was Psalm 133.

And it talks about the beauty of unity where brothers and sisters dwell in unity.

And I'm like how incredible that is for a community to dwell in unity.

- [Luke] Located right behind The Table, what is now called Mill 133 is a 48,000 square foot part of the Cranford Hosiery Mill.

It had been abandoned for decades before my mother partnered with fellow entrepreneur Jerry Neal to save the building.

- We're actually sitting, this is sitting on the complex of Cranford Hosiery.

The Table was so consuming that I didn't think much about the building behind me that was caving in.

And so, this was built in like 1819, and the other Mill and they just kind of kept growing.

And then 1925, they built the office building, which is The Table.

And I remember hearing rumors after we had been open a couple of years, that the city, this, the building, the Mill that we're in, was in such bad condition, they were gonna condemn it, and probably make a parking lot out of it.

And I remember going, oh my gosh, I need to save it.

It's too beautiful.

Even though in the state it was, to me it was still beautiful, 'cause it was open skies.

I finally got the guts to go to the city and just say, "Hey, I don't know what I'm gonna do with it, but would you give me about six months to try to figure it out?"

So, in that six months time, I met Jerry Neal at The Table actually.

And he said, "You really wanna save the Mill, don't you?"

And I said, "I really do."

And he said, "I will help you make that happen."

Jerry and I started from the bottom up to just restore what you see today.

'Cause you remember there were no beams.

Everything had fallen to the first floor.

It was an open sky.

And we just started the process of cleaning it out.

Sometimes I'm in here and it's quiet, and I'm like, okay, the walls, you can almost hear the conversations that all those people had working in the Mill and the conversations they had making hose, and the stories.

And they're no different than the stories that we have now of raising children, and providing for your family, and birthdays, and graduations, and all those things.

And to see life come back in these spaces brings me so much joy even though it's not been restored totally.

People found the beauty in just the space.

We've had a couple of weddings.

We've had a production company that actually did a beautiful, in fact, one of my favorite plays in here.

And it was like life being brought into this space before it was even completed.

When I first started even thinking about this project, gosh, I think I've changed directions a lot.

- Right, yeah.

[Dustie giggles] - A whole lot.

And I think your papaw came out one day and I, it was one of those moments of like, what have I done?

I have bought a building that is so big.

I started with 2,000 square feet with The Table and I felt like that was huge.

And now I'm looking at 48,000 square feet.

- [Luke] Mm-hmm.

- And I'll never forget your Papaw coming out here and we were standing downstairs.

I'm like, "Dad, I, this is too big."

And I remember him saying, "Dustie, aren't you so thankful that you got to start out with 2,000 square feet?"

- [Luke] Hmm.

- And I know the confidence and the things that have come out of that, of doing something I had never done before.

And I know I have what it takes to make this happen, 'cause I have spent the time in this space.

- [Luke] Right.

- I have spent time in this community.

I know now that our community likes grilled cheese over, you know?

But I mean, that seems like a little thing, but you learn your community and it's gonna be an incredible addition to our downtown.

- Yeah.

- And to the lives of the people.

And sometimes I go, well I just opened a restaurant.

It's not just a restaurant and it's not just, you know, Joel with Four Saints.

It's not that he just opened up a brewery.

He brought something that adds to the quality of life.

Here in Asheboro.

- [Luke] Yeah.

- There's some footage of Asheboro, back, gosh, 1930 I think, 1940.

And there was something just, the streets were always bustling.

People were always walking and it was very pedestrian driven.

There's connection with people when you pass them by.

I think when it is pedestrian, it also creates gathering spaces.

Can we create this space where people can actually gather to stop from the busyness of life and to connect.

I think we do use the word pedestrian driven, but I actually think it's gathering.

We have so many people that come from all over the state and out of the state that come from bigger cities.

And I think so many times when you're in a smaller town, so many people are like, oh, but you know, this big city does this or this big city has this.

There's something beautiful about the size of our city.

There's something beautiful that I know your name when you come in or you walk back and you get to know that person.

And so I think setting that culture in place of, I wanna know your name, I want to gather in our streets with you, And it creates something special that I think we're actually very blessed to have in a smaller community than in a larger community.

- Completing the square owned church is the Neal Building.

After falling into disrepair over many years, it was purchased by Jerry Neal and sold to my mother.

In honor of Jerry, she named the building after him.

It will now be the future home for a variety of food and art vendors.

- It was built in 1935 and it was actually built by the Cranford family who has the Mill in the back.

But then it became Belk's, a department store.

And I actually would come through these doors to get my Girl Scout uniform.

The day that I picked up the plans for this space was March 18th, I think.

And that's when the shutdown happened.

And that's been several years ago and it's still empty.

And I've kind of beat myself up about that, because we've not done anything with it.

But then I also realize that timing is so important.

I'll wait for that, that thing in my gut that says it's time to move forward.

I need to start slow and to phase the project.

We're gonna do phase one and that's building out a bakery.

But I've always had a real desire to do a home store.

I always like to know what is the purpose behind what we do.

Yes, it's a business and yes, you want it to make money and that's, you know, but for me it has to have purpose behind it.

And you know, when you were growing up and we'd have people over, they always wanted to come to our house, even though our house was the smallest.

Where did everybody always land?

It was in the kitchen.

It didn't matter how many rooms were empty, but everybody was in our little kitchen around the island.

And I'm like, I want that space to feel like home.

I want that space to feel like our kitchen, except we'll have it updated and it'll be the kind of kitchen I want right now.

[Dustie laughing] But I would love to carve out space for people to come in to learn.

I think a lot of people are very hesitant in hosting things, because they don't feel confident.

And I want to give them the tools to feel confident.

I would love to have local people that grow flowers to come and actually do the bouquets and set up just, just like you've come into our home and I'm getting ready to host a meal and you've got the flowers on the table and you have the bread coming out of the oven.

And that's also where we're gonna incorporate the bakery, so that we could tie in breads and sauces and things that we make at The Table that make it easier for you when you get home to prepare that meal for your family.

So that we can, it's extending our table to your table, basically.

And just to give, give the tools.

- [Luke] My mom was born in Sophia, North Carolina, just a few miles northwest of Asheboro.

My grandparents still live in Sophia.

We spent some time with them on their farm talking about how my mother's roots influence her as an entrepreneur.

- Growing up you made our world so beautiful and we didn't have a lot.

- Mm-mm.

- And I think one time I remember every Christmas when we would do our Christmas tree, we would walk down the road to get it.

I was so proud of it.

And we would take it and we'd put it in that room and we would make snow with the ivory snowflakes and you would carve a dove and put it at the top and we'd make our decorations.

And I just thought our tree was the prettiest tree ever.

And then I went to the friend's houses and I was like, their trees are perfect, and their trees, everything matches.

And you bought your tree?

I didn't know that was a thing, you know.

But you created with, we didn't have a lot, but everything I remember, you were always, like my friends would always wanna be at our house.

'Cause they had never had fondue before.

They had never had tacos before.

Remember the tacos?

So you were always trying new things.

So I think not having fear to open up your home to people, you know what I mean?

Even though we may not have had a lot, but that didn't hold you back to serve so beautifully.

I grew up with an incredible visionary and a dreamer with my father.

But you didn't just dream and you didn't just have vision, you actually did what it took to make it happen.

So.

- I've always, I've always felt like that we go to a, a exalted place of emotion to have a vision.

- Yes.

- And everybody has them, but the most difficult part of them is to take the vision and imagination and it become reality.

- [Dustie] Yes.

- [Ken] That's an incredible gift to feel something so deeply.

That you wish the whole world could see it and feel it the way you do, but you're able to express it so they can get a glimpse of it.

- [Dustie] Yes.

- [Ken] And that's what's made your place successful, because the world that you see and you love, everybody wants a world like that.

They don't know it, but they walk in, suddenly they feel, I like this place.

- I think I probably get the most revelation or the most in the quiet times, and it usually is like five in the morning.

And I haven't even gotten up outta bed yet.

And I literally just close my eyes and I start visualizing the spaces next door or the Mill.

I love to just close my eyes and envision the space and I want to hear the people and see.

We were talking about the gathering spaces, that I want to see them gathering, and almost even smell the smells.

The one thing as an artist is that you are always dreaming.

You always have vision for new things.

Andy and I felt real strongly to open up the bakery in Greensboro, because there was not enough space for the baker, and all that was happening in the back.

And we thought, okay we're going to move the bakery to Greensboro and we'll just bring bread back and forth and we'll open a retail space there.

And we had to close our doors.

It didn't work.

And so, we had to close because if I didn't, The Table was gonna suffer, my life, my marriage, you know, and all those things.

And I remember at that moment that I needed to close it, and I thought, am I a failure?

- [Ken] See that grapevine out there?

- [Dustie] Yes.

- An old prophet came to me one day and said, "You got that farm down there.

Do you have a grapevine?"

I said, "No."

He said, "Well you need one."

I said, "Why?"

He says, "'Cause you'll never understand pruning until you have a grapevine."

And so Cole was out here with me the first time and we had to prune back, 'cause you only want one vine come up and you split it to go two ways.

And we had to pick out of 40 or 50 or 60 branches, which two were gonna be the one.

And we threw 'em over there and Cole says, "What are we gonna do with those Papaw?"

I said, "We're gonna take 'em over and burn 'em."

And he went, "Oh my goodness."

We chose what was gonna live and what was gonna die, didn't we?

And he was about 10 years old.

And if you don't prune off some things, the whole thing will die and it will never bear fruit.

And that's the hardest thing to do, is let go so you can be more fruitful.

- [Dustie] Yeah, yeah.

- And the thing I love about you, Dustie, you're not going to be satisfied unless it's exactly the way you saw it.

Like the night we finally finished painting after night, after night, after night of painting, and the next morning we get this phone call, "Mom, you know, that color is not right."

And I'm thinking it's white, and you said, "There's yellow in it and I just wanted you to know that I'm going to go back over there this morning and repaint."

So I said, "Okay, we'll see you in about 30 minutes."

- I'll never forget the night that we opened The Table and we had a soft opening and I was sitting on the patio looking in, and rarely was I ever totally satisfied with a job that I would do.

And I remember that moment so clearly of looking in that window and the lights were on and I'm like, this is beautiful.

- [Linda] I remember you telling me that.

"This is even better than I thought it could be."

- "This is better than what I thought it could be."

And I knew for me to have that feeling was a gift, because rarely did that happen.

I remember that moment of it's, this is beautiful.

This is beautiful.

- [Luke] As we continued talking on the farm, I noticed something for the first time.

While my mom's passion is to be an incredible mother, wife, daughter, and friend, I think it's when she's serving her community that she burns brightest.

Service is not for her a learned behavior.

It is at the core of who she is.

She believes there is always room for one more.

That open invitation, that mission permeates all of her decisions.

It can be seen in the design of the spaces, it can be felt in the people she hires.

It can be tasted in the way the food is sourced and prepared.

Thank you for joining me as we shared ways my mother, Dustie Gregson reenvisions and rebuilds forgotten spaces, spaces that feed people, support local businesses, give focus to the arts, and inspire pride in the Asheboro, North Carolina community.

Join us next time for another episode of "Making North Carolina" as we continue to explore the brilliant minds that live all around us.

[soft music] [soft music] [soft music] [upbeat music] [water splashing] - [Narrator] Heart of NC is dedicated to lifting up cultural experiences in Randolph County, like hearing homegrown bluegrass music at the Sunset or Liberty theaters, taking home pottery from internationally renowned artists in Seagrove, the pottery capital of the country, learning NASCAR's legacy at the Petty Museum and feeding giraffes at the largest natural habitat zoo in the world.

Heart of NC wants you to know all Randolph County has to offer.

Experience Randolph, the Heart of North Carolina.