The Quiet Revolution Brewing Inside Carr Mill Mall

Tucked into a quiet corner of Carr Mill Mall, beneath low light and the scent of steeping tea, Oasis hums softly behind the bustle of the Weaver Street lawn. Part botanical bar, part wellness shop, part community living room, the space has become an unlikely gathering point for everyone from college students and retirees to people searching for alternatives — to alcohol, to pharmaceuticals, or simply to the pace of modern life.

For Robert Roskind, his daughter Alicia Roskind Dearing, and son-in-law James Dearing, Oasis has always been about more than selling wellness products. It is about creating a space where people can ask questions without judgment and feel momentarily removed from the pressures outside.

“We want people to walk in and feel a sigh of relief,” Alicia said. “Like they can let go of everything for a little while and just relax. That’s why we call it ‘Oasis’.”

That mission places Oasis at the center of a rapidly changing cultural moment — one where cannabis-adjacent products, functional mushrooms, and herbal wellness drinks are moving into the mainstream, even as confusion and stigma remain.

Oasis originally opened in 2013 under Roskind, who envisioned a gathering place centered around Bob Marley’s message of “One Love”, conversation, music, and community.

“He’d wanted to open something like this since his college days at UNC in the 1960s,” Alicia said. “He always imagined a space where people could come together around tea, ideas, and connection.”

Oasis has long functioned as a café and gathering space, hosting events and attracting a community interested in alternative health and spirituality long before hemp-derived wellness products became mainstream.

More than a decade later, Alicia and James have expanded that original vision into something that blends tea and coffee house, wellness space, and botanical bar — while keeping the emphasis on community connection that first defined the original vision of “One Love.”

Inside Oasis today, shelves hold hemp-derived THC products and seltzers, CBD tinctures and gummies, kava drinks, mushroom coffees, herbal teas, and other plant-based products aimed at everything from sleep and relaxation to focus and energy.

James says many customers arrive confused about the differences between Delta-8 and Delta-9 THC — hemp-derived compounds now widely sold in North Carolina despite marijuana remaining illegal in the state.

“Delta-8 tends to be milder and more relaxing, while Delta-9 is stronger and more traditional,” he explained. “But it’s all still THC, just derived from hemp rather than the marijuana plant.”

Functional mushrooms have become one of the shop’s fastest-growing categories.

“We have mushroom coffee, mushroom matcha, mushroom masala chai,” Alicia said. “Some people are really interested in functional mushrooms right now because they’re looking for energy and clarity without the crash while others want the health benefits like immune and inflammation support.”

Kratom, another product Oasis serves, remains more controversial. James says many customers seek it out as an alternative for pain relief, anxiety, or alcohol use.

“We serve the actual plant or plant extracts,” he said. “Most people who come in are looking for relief.”

While some customers may arrive looking for a buzz, many leave with a broader understanding of how plant-based products fit into a growing shift away from alcohol-centered social culture.

“People still want connection,” Alicia said. “We’re social creatures. They want somewhere they can meet people, have conversations, and feel good without alcohol being at the center of it.”

“I came in here originally just for tea,” said Noah Baker, a former Carrboro resident who now lives in Raleigh. “Then I started noticing the CBD and THC products and got curious.”

“I wanted something that would calm my mind but also improve my mood,” Baker said. “Most things just relaxed me. This was different. It actually quieted the racing thoughts.”

Like many customers, Baker sees Oasis less as a dispensary and more as a carefully curated wellness space.

“The owners really know their products,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like some giant company selling random stuff. It feels personal.”

That shift in perception is something James and Alicia say they see constantly, especially among older adults.

“We’ve had people in their seventies and eighties come in who had never touched THC before,” Alicia said. “Now they’re curious because they’ve heard it can help with sleep, pain, or anxiety.”

At the same time, the couple emphasizes that Oasis is not anti-medicine or anti-science. Instead, they see their work as expanding the conversation around wellness.

James, who survived cancer, a kidney transplant, and a bone marrow transplant, says his own medical history profoundly shaped his relationship with health.

“When you fight for your life, you realize health is the most important thing,” he said. “That experience pushed me to research nutrition, herbs, meditation, grounding, breathwork — all the ways people can support their health naturally.”

Carrboro — with its co-op market, coffee shops, art spaces, and longstanding countercultural identity — feels uniquely suited to a place like Oasis.

In many ways, the business reflects both Carrboro’s older countercultural roots and a newer generation’s interest in wellness and sobriety alternatives.

“Carrboro likes being a little weird,” Alicia said with a laugh. “It’s eccentric, but still grounded in community and welcoming people in.”

Alicia describes the space as intentionally designed to feel more like a living room than a retail store.

“We wanted it to feel warm and cozy — like a place where you could talk to someone you just met or sit quietly by yourself,” she said.

For all the debate around hemp laws, wellness trends, and regulation, Oasis ultimately functions less like a dispensary and more like a reflection of a broader cultural shift — one where many people are reevaluating their relationship with alcohol, pharmaceuticals, and even healthcare itself.

For Alicia, however, the goal remains rooted in the same sense of connection her father originally imagined when he opened more than a decade ago.

“I just want Oasis to keep becoming a place where people feel comfortable coming together,” she said. “To laugh, share, support each other, and feel a little more connected in a world that can feel pretty overwhelming sometimes.”

For more information, visit: www.oasisbotanicallounge.com and www.staystrangedesign.com