by Kristen Wile

Mike Casagrande of Lucky Fish. TM Petaccia/UP

Lucky Fish Seafood is focusing on its farmers market roots following the closure of its storefront on South Boulevard. The building that houses Lucky Fish sold last year, and plans call for it to become an apartment building. Faced with increased rent and moving into a new space, owner Mike Casagrande says he made the decision to close up the shop.

“When I went out to look for space to rent, rent is considerably much higher than what they were wanting to offer during Covid because they were just willing to take anything,” Casagrande says. “And now the price is at least double. Upfit is another $40,000. So I’m currently content with being at the farmers markets.”

Lucky Fish became popular at local farmers markets, where Casagrande has been selling fresh — and most often local — seafood for 16 years. During the pandemic, demand exploded as more people cooked at home. That demand, combined with the wide availability and affordability of retail space, led Casagrande to open his brick-and-mortar space on South Boulevard. Now, however, consumers are returning to their old habits of dining out, making the storefront less necessary.

Casagrande moved the display cases from the old space to his stall at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market in Building B. There, customers can stop in Friday through Sunday to purchase fish. He is also returning to the South End Farmers Market, as well as maintaining his presence at the Uptown and Cotswold farmers markets.

As well as running Lucky Fish, Casagrande’s day job centers around fish — he works in sales for Charlotte-based seafoods.com. His day job helps him expand connections, including bringing in fish from elsewhere when something isn’t available locally or giving customers the option of purchasing wagyu beef. Before moving into sales, he worked in a seafood processing plant, as well as spent 20 years as a chef, giving him experience with many aspects of selling fish. All of that experience is put to use providing local fish to his customers.

“I’d like to keep seafood accessible, seafood affordable, and seafood as local as possible,” he says. “Keeping costs down, I can at least be affordable at the farmer’s market versus having the overhead of a store. That’s the way I’ve always tried to approach it — just have a great, fresh local option available for people here in Charlotte.”

Lucky Fish takes online preorders for farmers market pickup each week, with selections sent via e-mail to customers each week. Those selections are also available at the markets until sold out.