SHOP
LIVING la BELLA VITA A City Market home store delivers an edit of local wares by SHELBI POLK photography by EAMON QUEENEY
S
tepping through the front doors of Bella Vita Home + Lifestyle feels like walking into a stylish friend’s dining room: A table with impeccable settings dominates the front half of the shop, and the walls are covered in the things decor dreams are made of, from crystal decanters to locally sourced candles. Today’s Bella Vita, nestled in City
50 | WALTER
Market, almost didn’t exist. In August 2019, the previous owners were in the process of closing the store for good when Stephen Rhodes and Nate Davis happened to walked in. “Honestly, it was fate,” Davis says. Davis and Rhodes weren’t looking to take on a project. Davis, a doctor, and Rhodes, the first openly gay NASCAR driver, already had quite a bit going on.
They were actually looking to open a med spa, but they just fell in love with the store, then called Bella Vita Downtown Market. (Don’t worry, the relentless duo is moving forward with Davis + Rhodes Aesthetics med spa in Cary opening this month.) “After only a few days of discussion, we suddenly found ourselves the new owners of Bella Vita,” Davis says. But
