At 201 W. Fourth St., the old downtown CVS now sells sessions in a headset and a haptic suit. Getting it there took a $3 million renovation.
Within six weeks of that opening, Jeffrey Adams on Fourth served its last dinner a block west at 321 W. Fourth St., after 14 years. Look at the two events together and they describe a corridor whose evenings are reorganizing around things to do. The holiday calendar coming up in November and December is the first real test of how that new mix holds a crowd.
A $3 million bet in a former drugstore
Sandbox VR held its grand opening on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. According to Journal coverage of the opening, owner AC Hengler spent $3 million retrofitting the shuttered CVS, and a 15-foot inflatable "Squid Game" character watched the ceremony from Merschel Park across Fifth Street. The same report says Hengler told Mayor Allen Joines and the city council members there that he had wanted for some time to start a business that could help revitalize downtown.
It is the first Sandbox VR in North Carolina, according to The Go-To Winston-Salem's openings roundup. That roundup also reports that the franchise owner hopes the location will bring more foot traffic downtown. Games include a "Stranger Things" experience and a zombie game called Deadwood Phobia. On opening day, Jason Thiel, president of the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership, played Squid Game Virtuals with staff from Winston-Salem Recreation and Parks.
The hours matter more than the novelty. Sandbox VR's Winston-Salem page lists these times:
- Monday through Thursday: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
- Sunday: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Tickets start at $44 on weekdays and $54 on weekends. A venue open until 11 p.m. on weekends competes for the same evening a dinner reservation used to fill.
Walk the 200 to 500 blocks and the pattern repeats
Sandbox VR isn't the only one. Here is what has opened along West Fourth in 2026, going west from the old CVS:
- 201 W. Fourth St., Sandbox VR. Full-body virtual reality in the former downtown CVS.
- 279 W. Fourth St., Chronic Guru. It took over the former Tate's Crafted Cocktails space. The Go-To describes it as a dispensary-meets-lounge concept with coffee, cocktails, board games and darts. Its own site says it is open now.
- 321 W. Fourth St., the former Jeffrey Adams. Dark since Oct. 4, and no successor has been announced.
- 501 W. Fourth St., ÉTÉ Studio. A machine-based, Pilates-inspired workout studio.
Three of those four addresses now sell an activity: a game, a lounge with darts and board games, a workout. The fourth is the dining room that closed, and that's the stretch you'll walk past this holiday season.
The dining room that closed, and the one still coming
Jeffrey Adams opened in the fall of 2012 at 321 W. Fourth St. It began as a partnership between chef Adam Andrews and Jeffrey Bassett, who owns the Old Fourth Street Filling Station a few blocks west at 871 W. Fourth. The Winston-Salem Journal reported that the restaurant announced its closing on Instagram on Sept. 21 and named Sunday, Oct. 4 as its last day. The Journal also quoted the restaurant's farewell to its customers:
"To our regulars who joined us week after week, our visitors who made Jeffrey Adams part of their time downtown, and this community that continued to show up for us through every season … thank you."
The closing doesn't take Andrews out of the local scene. According to the same Journal article, he has since opened The Young Cardinal café and Twisted Pine in Winston-Salem, along with Mercantile Chophouse in King. He is also a partner in Trophy Room, Dogwood Hops and Crop, and Easy Tiger Beer Garden, and he recently took over Davie Tavern in Advance.
The next new sit-down restaurant downtown is a block north. It will open at 209 W. Sixth St., the former 6th & Vine space, and its name has changed since it was first announced. The Go-To's roundup listed it as Honoré, opening in fall 2026. The restaurant's own site now reads "Honoré is now Sebastian" and calls it a European small plates restaurant in the Arts District, serving tapas, hors d'oeuvres and antipasti from Spain, France and Italy. That site still says "Coming Soon" and gives no opening date. If you've been waiting on Honoré, Sebastian is the name to watch.
Sixth and Trade fill in around the edges
The blocks next to Fourth are following the same playbook, with two openings timed for the season.
Boxcar Bar + Arcade, 951 Trade St. NW. The Go-To lists arcade games, handcrafted pizza and a full bar, and says this location will have Boxcar's largest arcade floor and patio. Boxcar's own Winston-Salem page still says "opening soon," and no date has been posted. Once it opens, Trade Street gets a game floor of its own to go with Fourth Street's VR rooms.
Fancy Groceries For Her, 204 W. Sixth St. Owner Max Dubinsky planned a holiday-season womenswear pop-up for mid-October, next door to his Fancy Groceries menswear shop. Triad Business Journal reports that the shop will carry heirloom-quality pieces made in Japan, Germany and the USA. The Go-To adds that the pop-up may become permanent. Check the shop's Instagram before you make a special trip.
Two doors down from that pop-up, Sebastian's opening will put a new dining room and a new boutique side by side on the 200 block of West Sixth. That block could become the corridor's dinner-and-shopping stop while Fourth leans toward activities.
The holiday calendar lands on the same few blocks
Sandbox VR, Chronic Guru and ÉTÉ Studio all get their first downtown holiday season this year, and the calendar fits inside 30 days. Here it is in order:
- Friday, Nov. 6, Gallery Hop. DADA holds Gallery Hop on the first Friday of every month, 7 to 10 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 21, 500 W 5th Holiday Market & Christmas Tree Lighting. Noon to 7 p.m. at 500 W. Fifth St., with the tree lighting at 6 p.m. It's one block north of ÉTÉ Studio's address on West Fourth.
- Friday, Dec. 4, Gallery Hop. The December first-Friday edition, same 7 to 10 p.m. window.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, Sawtooth School for Visual Art Holiday Market. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 251 N. Spruce St., with a suggested $5 donation.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, Winston-Salem Ambassadors Holiday Parade. Afternoon, along Fourth and Liberty streets.
December 5 is the day the whole corridor gets tested. The Winston-Salem Ambassadors' parade page says the city needs the parade finished by 6:30 p.m. for the tree lighting in Corpening Plaza. Because space is tight, entries are capped at 75 this year. Groups that want to march have until midnight on Friday, Nov. 6 to register. The Ambassadors may close registration sooner if they hit the cap, and they won't take late entries.
That gives Dec. 5 a usable order. Start with the Sawtooth market before it closes at 4. Watch the parade on Fourth, then head to Corpening Plaza for the tree. Sandbox VR stays open until 11 p.m. on Saturdays, so a group with kids or out-of-town guests can book a session after the lights go on, without needing a dinner reservation on parade night. For more ideas around town, our Tanglewood Festival of Lights calendar works well for a second evening out. To see how downtown looked before this round of changes, read our late-summer downtown roundup.
The storefront at 321 W. Fourth St. is still empty, and whatever moves in will help decide whether West Fourth stays a street built around games and lounges or adds another dinner anchor. If you follow downtown as closely as I do, whether you're thinking about a condo near the Arts District or just want to know what your home is worth with all this happening a few blocks away, I'd love to talk. Find more about Winston-Salem's neighborhoods, then reach out to Karen Swicegood. Schedule your free consultation.
