New Co-Working Space Focuses on Support and Connections

Cary, NC – Now open in Cary Towne Center, Vibe is a new co-working space focused on female entrepreneurs and getting people out of their homes and making real-world connections.

Making Connections

Vibe, located in Cary Towne Center at the North entrance between Belk and Dave and Buster’s, has a variety of offices and meeting rooms, with different sizes and layouts to accommodate anything from an accountant to an exercise class.

While space at Vibe is available to everyone, co-owners Leah Campbell and Nanette Mattox said their goal is for Vibe to be female-focused.

“We felt stronger about supporting women business owners,” Campbell said. “Vibe has a more comfortable feel to it than most offices and we have workshops meant to support women in business.”

Mattox said 40 percent of new businesses are women-owned but many new business owners tend to work out of their home, which she said is not conducive to the needs of a modern business.

“People are tired of being at home. They want to connect, they want to network and they want to get away from the tasks at home,” Mattox said. “And women like to connect. Women tend to communicate more. Now, those connections can happen organically.”

In addition to office space, Vibe has lockers and showers, a café, rooms for private phone calls and lactation, thick walled rooms for potential podcasting and artist studio space. Vibe also gives its clients a virtual mailbox so they can receive work mail and packages at Vibe instead of at their home.

Mattox said Vibe has already leased rooms to new clients and is continuing to take on new business owners who are interested. Through the various clients, she said people can make connections and help one another, e.g., an accountant can help an entrepreneur or a lawyer can help an artist.

“We’ll have a Slack channel for our members to connect and there will be a board up front to say ‘who’s in today,'” Mattox said.

And in addition to workshops and seminars, there will be social events to help the clients connect and network, such as potlucks and happy hours. The walls at Vibe are also covered with artwork from local artists and both Mattox and Campbell said there could potentially be gallery openings here.

Advantages of Cary Towne Center

Vibe is currently in what Mattox and Campbell called Phase One as the co-working space opened this March. Now, with all rooms set to finish by October 2019, the space is in Phase Two as clients and members start to join and utilize Vibe.

“Phase Two is our response to what our clients want,” Campbell said. “The space evolves based on what clients want as they come in. We’re in a learning period.”

One aspect that makes Vibe unique is its location inside the mall. The various room shapes and sizes are because Vibe is open in a former spa and Campbell said their location shows that Cary Towne Center is “one of Cary’s best kept secrets.”

“People want access and location. We’re very convenient to the highways, Downtown Cary, shopping, restaurants and parking,” Campbell said. “Lots of offices have a problem now getting parking. We don’t have that.”

Campbell also said the mall has been very accommodating to them and other malls are starting to repurpose and include more office space, with Southpoint in Durham as one nearby example.

Mattox also said prices at Vibe make working here more viable and they don’t sign clients to multi-year leases up front.

“There’s a shortage of co-working and meeting spaces. People don’t want to try and fight for room at a café or restaurant,” Mattox said. “And there’s a niche for women that’s being overlooked.”

Vibe is now open at Cary Towne Center, off of Walnut Street.

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Story by Michael Papich. Photos by Hal Goodtree.