These businesses survived challenges and change to serve the local community and welcome back generations of Carolina alumni.
Published July 30, 2025
Story by Kristen Grant, University Communications and Marketing
Every Tar Heel has a favorite spot to gather with friends, grab a meal or shop for Carolina gear in downtown Chapel Hill. While many establishments have come and gone over the years, there are a handful that, while they may have a new name or updated address, still serve students and locals with a smile and offer a twinge of nostalgia for all.
Location: Carolina Coffee Shop
Year opened: 1922
For more than a century, Tar Heels have flocked to Carolina Coffee Shop, the oldest continually running restaurant in North Carolina. Known for its dark wooden booths and modern spin on Southern food, today it’s owned by a group of Carolina alums who purchased the landmark to ensure a little piece of Franklin Street history lived on. When they celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2022, the restaurant’s co-owners marked the major milestone with the opening of 1922, a sister café next door that offers a bright space with grab-and-go offerings.
You might not know: Carolina Coffee Shop was originally called Carolina Confectionary – its current moniker wasn’t established until 1928.
Photo: Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
Location: Sutton’s Drug Store
Year opened: 1923
Step into Sutton’s Drug Store, and it’s not hard to see what helped the establishment survive the recent pandemic and celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2023. While the former pharmacy and soda fountain still serves burgers, hot dogs and glass bottles of soda that have drawn patrons for years, it’s the people and personalized décor that make it feel like home. In 1984, Sutton’s cook, Willie Mae Houk, suggested to then-owner and pharmacist John Woodard that he hang up the pictures of smiling patrons that he’d taken over the years. A rotating mix of famous Tar Heel faces, students and loyal locals smiling from booths now flank the walls and dangle from the ceilings along with signed basketball and football jerseys and Carolina sports memorabilia, creating a casual neighborhood space brimming with nostalgia.
You might not know: Sutton’s started with only a take-out front window before adding a counter and booths inside in the 1960s.
Photo: Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
Location: Varsity Theatre
Year opened: 1927
The Varsity Theatre has been through name changes, closures and re-openings over the past century, but you can still buy a ticket to watch a movie today. The Carolina Theatre became the Village Theater, and eventually the current name familiar to most of the Chapel Hill community was bestowed in 1951. In addition to movies, the venue also hosts special events like Carolina basketball watch parties and has space for live performances, as well. In 2015, the community rallied to support the Varsity with the Go Digital or Go Dark campaign, an effort to raise funds to help the venue update technology and purchase a new digital projector. They met the fundraising goal, and now moviegoers can grab a popcorn and settle in to catch the newest blockbusters as soon as they come out, instead of waiting multiple weeks like they had before.
You might not know: Every year around Halloween, the Carolina student theater group Pauper Players puts on a production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Photo: Melanie Busbee/UNC-Chapel Hill
Location: Merritt’s Store and Grill
Year opened: 1929
Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. Printed on the sign out front, plastic cups and T-shirts for sale inside, there’s no question about what makes Merritt’s Store and Grill famous these days. But for the majority of its 96-year history, the unassuming white building off Columbia Street was an Esso gas station. It wasn’t until 1992 that the new owners decided to put the focus on food like burgers, chicken sandwiches and their now-legendary BLT. A stop into the store still carries an old-timey feel and charm, but instead of filling up on fuel, customers now choose between a single, double or triple stack of bacon, lettuce and tomato.
You might not know: The Triple BLT is made with one pound of bacon.
Photo from Merritt’s Store and Grill
Location: Julian’s
Year opened: 1942
Some things — and places — never go out of style. Renowned for bringing New England “preppy” to the South, Maurice Julian ’38 and his wife, Mary, opened a clothing shop to cater to the men arriving on campus for the U.S. Navy’s Pre-Flight Training Program. Soon Julian’s had cemented itself as a high-end specialty store on Franklin Street, and for more than 80 years, Julian’s influence and impact has gone far beyond Chapel Hill’s main thoroughfare. Their son, Alexander Julian ’69, designed the famous Carolina argyle originally featured on the men’s basketball unforms as well as the Carolina Blue gowns donned by graduates at Commencement. Today, the shop is still in the family, owned and operated by the Julians’ grandson Bart Fox.
You might not know: In 1969 Alexander Julian opened a competing clothing shop across the street from his father’s store — in the same location that Julian’s occupies today.
Photo: Melanie Busbee/UNC-Chapel Hill
Location: University Florist
Year opened: 1946
For nearly 80 years, Chapel Hill locals have gone to University Florist in search of blooms for weddings, special events and more. The current owners, father and son Charles House ’66 and Henry House, have been creating beautiful floral arrangements for the community since 1979, when Charles purchased the business. As with most establishments on Franklin Street, changing times ushered in changing client needs and habits. Later this year, the shop will move to a new, larger location nearby on North Roberson Street to better serve the increasing number of online orders and accommodate walk-in traffic with more available parking.
You might not know: The Franklin Street location once housed Chapel Hill’s first bakery.
Photo from Visit Chapel Hill
Location: Time Out
Year opened: 1978
Until 2014, you could find Time Out in its original location in University Square next to Granville Towers. Today a Target stands in its place, but hungry customers can still stop in for a bite to eat at the restaurant’s location at 201 E. Franklin St. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Founder Eddie Williams ’77 realized soon after opening his original location that there were very few options for late-night food for medical staff and first responders nearby, and students who were up late. He soon changed the hours to remain open all day, every day, becoming the first restaurant in Chapel Hill to do so.
You might not know: Eddie’s father, Jack Williams ’52, was the sports information director at UNC-Chapel Hill from 1966-1975, which inspired the Carolina Athletics photos that cover the walls.
Photo from Time Out restaurant
Location: He’s Not Here
Year opened: 1982
There’s little mystery behind which Chapel Hill business serves up the iconic 32-ounce Blue Cup on Franklin Street. But bring up the origins of the name He’s Not Here, and that’s where things get a little fuzzy. The local lore is that people would call the bar looking for significant others or even one very famous basketball player from the 1980s, to which staff would answer, “He’s not here.” No matter how the name came to be, Carolina students and plenty of recognizable faces — from Tar Heel athletes to musicians like Ed Sheeran —have poured into the sizable outdoor space to gather with friends and enjoy the contents of a Blue Cup for more than 40 years.
You might not know: Recording artist Chase Rice ’09 mentions He’s Not — as it’s more commonly known — in his 2014 song “Carolina Can.”
Photo: Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
Mural:Scott Nurkin
Location: YoPo
Year opened: 1982
The Yogurt Pump, affectionately known by customers as YoPo, has been serving up sweet treats for decades. Tucked away down a sidewalk just off Franklin Street, the shop opened as North Carolina’s first frozen yogurt shop before the froyo craze really picked up steam. For decades, students and locals have popped by “The Place to Chill on the Hill” for a selection of rotating flavors and nearly two dozen toppings. Now owned by Jim Kitchen ’87 and Susan Kitchen ’91, it’s a Chapel Hill mainstay that has evolved with the times but remains loyal to its quaint style and community-first focus.
You might not know: YoPo features four core flavors and four rotating flavors daily.
Photo: Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
Location: Top of the Hill Restaurant & Brewery
Year opened: 1996
The only business on this list from the 1990s, Top of the Hill Restaurant & Brewery — commonly referred to as TOPO — was founded by Scott Maitland ’95 (JD) after he heard rumblings of a chain restaurant moving into the coveted corner lot at the intersection of Franklin and Columbia Streets. For more than 50 years a Texaco service station called the corner home until the current three-story brick building was built in 1993. A pillar of downtown Chapel Hill for nearly 30 years now, TOPO has a patio that still offers the best view to take in the throng of students rushing Franklin Street after a victory over Duke. And for more than two decades, it’s been home to the Carolina football and basketball coaches’ shows.
You might not know: TOPO is the fifth-oldest brewpub in the state of North Carolina.
Photo: Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
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