People, places and things give a town its soul.
“Phil Ford, Dean Smith, the Old Well, Morehead Planetarium and Merritt’s are on the list of what defines Chapel Hill,” resident Eric White said. Merritt’s Store and Grill, a tiny white building located just south of UNC’s campus off U.S. Highway 15- 501, originally opened in 1929 as a local gas station and has evolved into an iconic grill marking “where the country meets the University.”
Opened and operated by Eben and Ruby Merritt for nearly 50 years, the Esso station supplied gas, car parts and food items by day and a social environment by night – attracting men who wanted to sip on beer, stand around the grill, and catch up on local news.
“I was born in Chapel Hill in 1966,” White said. “I remember Merritt’s as one of those places that was simply always there. It really holds a quintessence that can’t be branded; it just somehow exists.”
When Bob and Robin Britt took over the lease in 1991, they carried on the store’s name. They sold gas, convenience store items such as cigarettes and chewing gum and food from the grill; although the grill was something few people seemed to know about.
It wasn’t until business was rocky in 2008, a result of the recession, that the Britts decided they wanted to showcase their food in an attempt to make a comeback. The shelves in the interior were ripped out and tables and chairs were installed. They started actively advertising a limited Southernstyle homemade menu consisting of chicken salad, burgers, fried bologna, pimento cheese, orangeade, sweet tea and – of course – the famous BLT. “I’ve been eating at Merritt’s since 1993,” Chapel Hill Realtor Tracy Wright said. “When I step inside, it’s like going back in time and for just a little while, I get to leave all the hustle and bustle of the high tech world behind.”
From the worn wooden floors and Carolina blue plaster walls to the glass bottle sodas and the grill in a visible location, Merritt’s is filled with charm.
“We think that it’s the connections we have with our customers,” comanager Chris Elkins said. “It isn’t corporate and cold. There is no separation between staff and customers.”
Elkins believes the store means more to her customers than just good food.
“Merritt’s is a place where life happens,” she said. “For 85 years, Merritt’s has been a place where people have met; where men meet to drink coffee in the morning and talk, where young and old meet and talk in line while waiting for their sandwiches.”
No matter the time of day, the diversity among customers proves how this quaint, antique store and grill is truly loved.
“In Merritt’s, you will have a construction worker in line with Coach Fedora who is in line with a long time Chapel Hill resident who is in line with a college student who is in line with a house cleaner,” Elkins said. “Where else can you find that?”
Made with love
Sourdough, mayo, salt, pepper, bacon, bacon, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, sourdough – an order of ingredients Merritt’s lovers know all too well.
“We cook 900 pounds of bacon a week,” Elkins said. “We run a shift all night to fry the bacon for our sandwiches the next day.” As far as the BLT goes, the ingredients are basic - so what makes it stand out as the best in the area?
“Robin would say that it’s made with love,” co-manager Matt Bair said. “Our ingredients are fresh, our bacon is fried, and we have our bread baked fresh for us every night and delivered
at 3:30 a.m.”
The kitchen may be tiny, but Merritt’s menu is far from limited. While the $6.50 BLTs are the number one seller, customers can enjoy breakfast sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, egg salad and a number of other homemade items.
However, it’s not always what goes into something that makes it unique; sometimes it’s what the customers get out of Merritt’s food that keeps them coming back for more.
“A couple who met here over 50 years ago came in to celebrate the wife’s birthday,” Elkins said. “We chatted about how many of their life events have been marked at Merritt’s. They were not only celebrating a birthday, but they were celebrating life.”
The husband had been diagnosed with cancer, something the wife revealed to Elkins through a stream of tears. They recently celebrated their 55 years of marriage at the store – BLTs in hand.
“They came back to celebrate with us,” Elkins said. “That is Merritt’s.”
An old friend
This past April, owner Robin Britt passed away after her battle with lung cancer. Elkins and Bair, neither a full-time employee at the time, helped shift responsibilities in the store during her treatment and have continued to carry on her legacy.
“It has been extremely important to carry on her vision of love of the community and to make Merritt’s an every man’s store,” Elkins said. “She had lots of ideas and vision for the store that she simply did not have the bandwidth to do – I want to make those things happen for her.”
Britt exemplified the Southern hospitality that exists at Merritt’s. Wright’s mother had a nine-day stay at UNC Hospital a few years ago. On the day of her mother’s release from the hospital, Wright called in their typical order to Merritt’s.
“When I went inside to pick up our order, Robin met me with her usual smile and I told her about my mom and how excited she was about having a BLT,” she said. “Robin went back into the kitchen and came back with a cup of soup as an extra get well and told me to tell my mom that she was glad she was getting better – it was like talking with an old friend.”
Though her physical presence at Merritt’s is no longer, Britt’s hopes and goals for the store live on.
“Robin’s greatest gift was making everyone feel they have had a part in the success of Merritt’s,” Elkins said. “My pastor said he was the one who gave Robin the idea of the destination sandwich, the BLT. Another friend said he had the idea to create the outdoor seating out back. Another friend said she gave Robin the idea to display local artists’ works in the store.”
“This could very well be the secret,” she said, “that the store truly belongs to Chapel Hill.”
