The Rusty Bucket - This shop occupying part of a restored 1925 building offers stylish and affordable decorations for the home and items of interest representing the local community and its history. Located since 2005 at 104-A North Salem Street, it occupies the third shop from the stoplight at Salem and Chatham. The building (including the space now occupied by Heather'O Realty) was previously home home to the old "Popes Five and Dime" store in the mid-1950s and was a favorite stop for economically priced merchandise.

The building was constructed in 1925 and for thirty years was the location of an automobile dealership and auto repair garage. In 1955 the space was converted into a shop where Carol and Andy Kish operated "That Unique and Wonderful Place", an antiques and specialty toy store. When that shop closed in 2005 a printing business leased the north half and "The Rusty Bucket" rented the south half of the building. After six months the printing business closed and Heather'O moved into the half of the building next to the Rusty Bucket.

The 1910 corner shop by the stoplight at Salem and Chatham Streets was once known as the Apex Rexall Drugstore during the 1940-1970 years. It was owned and operated by Margaret and Calvin Perry and was the favorite after school meeting place for local students until the pharmacy closed. It later became home of Basket Tree Florist Shop until that business moved to South Salem Street in late 2007 when the building was purchased by a new owner.

The front section of the downstairs pharmacy included a soda counter offering hand made ten cent orange-aides, twenty-five cent milkshakes, hand dipped ice cream and a variety of snacks appealing to merchants, residents and the after school crowd. The fountain area included a long sit-down eating counter typical of the time and a line of booths serving as a gathering place for local friends. The rear section of the store contained the pharmacy counter and drug dispensing area and along the aisle near the rear entrance was an old wooden AT&T telephone booth and coin operated pay phone that served as an after-school communications center for students making their after school stop.

Salem Street Soda Shop - Located at 113 North Salem Street, the downtown soda shop is just what you would expect for a "small town" style dining and meeting place. It has been a local favorite for breakfast and lunch, always crowded with merchants and residents at lunchtime. Furnishings follow the character of an old style soda shop including a lunch counter with bar stools, soda fountain, wooden booths and tables and glass display cabinets and decorations from old stores.

The shop is in a restored 1920 building that was the town's dry cleaning business once owned by the Wade Baker, Sr., in years past. It was originally a shop that "pressed clothes" and cleaned felt hats, and later became a dry cleaning service owned and operated by Wade Baker, Sr. When the shop was opened as the Salem Street Soda Shop it was owned and operated by Wade Baker, Jr., after renovating the space formerly owned by his father. In April 2008 the building was purchased by new owners said to be planning to open a new restaurant in the same location.

Peak City Grille & Bar - 126 North Salem Street, adjacent to Firehouse Number One. The upscale restaurant , owned by town residents Steve & Julie Adams, is located in a restored old building built by Apex's Seymore family in 1905. A brick in one of the structure's walls is stamped with the date "May 8, 1905" and is from those made on site during the original construction. The building has served as a hardware store, general store, feed and mill store and mules were once sold in what is now the parking lot. More on the building...

Apex Fire Department - Fire Station Number One - The Apex Volunteer Fire Department site, built in the 1950's, is located on Salem street adjacent to the old train depot and the Apex Historical Society Caboose.

In the years prior to 1850 a "log pond" (also the source of the early name Apex was known by) was on this site and was filled with logs that would be milled into lumber for the region. The pond also hosted large numbers of bullfrogs and other wildlife. Years later a Pure Oil gas station was built on the site and became one of the Town's early gasoline stops. The gas station was eventually torn down and the site became home of the fire station much as it looks today.

Laura Kelly Designs - 108A North Salem Street. Founded in 2002, . The Laura Kelly product line includes Polka-Dotted Monograms, Paper, Kids Ready-to-Write Stationary, PolkaPlaids and Pladdledots, Would Write Collection, Imprintables, and my First Business Cards.

Halle Cultural Arts Center of Apex - 237 North Salem Street at the junction of Salem and Center Streets. The new downtown cultural arts center is one of the latest buildings to be restored and is home to the new community arts center. Built in 1912 to be the Apex Town Hall, the building served many other needs over the years including housing the Police Station, jail, farmer's market, the firehouse (in the rear), a ticket office and once provided a second floor gathering place for teenagers to meet and dance. The original building served as home for the Apex town government center for 65 years.