A long-time Durham diner is calling it quits.
Honey’s Restaurant and Catering, known for its 24-hour breakfast and country-cooking menu with more than 400 items, will shut down Sunday after serving the Bull City for more than 50 years.
“We are officially closing the doors at 3 p.m. on Sunday,” owner Buck Dickerson said.
Last year, Dickerson learned that Holmes Oil Co., which owns the Honey’s land and building, is planning to take a different direction with the property at the busy intersection of Guess Road and Interstate 85. Holmes Oil has extended Dickerson’s closing date a couple of times to allow him the chance to identify and lease a space for a new restaurant within a mile-and-a-half of the current spot, Dickerson said.
However, Dickerson has not yet found another location and doesn’t have a target date for reopening.
Dickerson intends to open a smaller restaurant with a new name and old Honey’s diner flair. He said he promised Honey Enterprises, a former affiliate of the restaurant, that he would use a different name when the eatery changed locations.
Honey’s, known for its 24-hour breakfast and country-cooking menu with more than 400 items, opened in the early 1960s by Honey Enterprises, a Charlotte-based company that once owned restaurants and hotels in the Carolinas, but is now focused on commercial real estate. Dickerson started working the late shift at Honey’s around 1980.
Over the years, Dickerson and his brother Mel managed and co-owned the business with Honey Enterprises. The Dickersons completely acquired it in 2008. Mel Dickerson retired in 2009, leaving the company with Dickerson.
For a few more days Honey’s will be located at 2700 Guess Road.
Fleet Feet Sports, a shoe store chain that offers running and walking shoes, apparel and programs designed to encourage exercise, is expanding its presence in and commitment to the Triangle with a couple of moves and two new stores.
The Carrboro store, which opened in 1994, is moving to a new building, about 50 feet from its current location. The new spot will also house the company’s corporate headquarters, which will be moving from down the street.
“We’ve just made a commitment to keep the store and headquarters here for 20 years,” said Jeff Phillips, Fleet Feet president and CEO. “And that’s exciting.”
The store will take up about 5,000 square feet of the new building’s first floor, and the corporate offices will use about 10,000 square feet of the second floor. Phillips wants to eventually expand the company and take over the third floor of the building.
The moves are expected to take place in the fourth quarter of 2014. The new store and offices will be at 300 E. Main St. in downtown Carrboro.
Fleet Feet is also in the process of opening two new stores – one in Durham and one in North Raleigh.
The two locations will follow in the footsteps of other Fleet Feet stores by carrying shoe and apparel brands such as Nike, Adidas, Saucony, Asics and Brooks, and by offering nutrition and hydration products.
Fleet Feet got its start in Sacramento, Calif., in 1976, and now has more than 100 locations across the country, including seven in North Carolina.
“With the Durham store and North Raleigh store, it will give us a really strong presence in the Triangle,” Phillips said.
The North Raleigh Fleet Feet is at 8511 Colonnade Center Drive, Suite 140 in the Market at Colonnade. It’s expected to open in early October.
The Durham store, which plans to open around Nov. 1, is at 6700 Fayetteville Road, between Pier One and Nordstrom Rack in the Renaissance Center and across from The Streets at Southpoint.
Elevation Burger is coming to North Carolina. The burger joint that serves fries, shakes and organic, grass-fed, free-range beef burgers – including a Vertigo burger that has three to 10 patties – is opening its first location in the state at Brier Creek Commons Shopping Center on Saturday. Elevation Burger is located at 8301 Brier Creek Parkway, Suite 101.
Tijuana Flats is opening its fourth Triangle location on Monday. The Tex-Mex restaurant offers a made-to-order menu and a hot sauce bar. The 2,400-square-foot space holds about 65 people and has an outdoor patio for about 25. Tijuana Flats is at 703 Ninth St. North in Durham.
Olive Garden, the Italian chain restaurant known for its salads, breadsticks, soups and pastas, has opened in Holly Springs. The newest eatery is 7,660 square feet and has space for about 240 customers. Olive Garden is at 107 Grand Hill Place in Holly Springs Towne Center … McDonald’s is opening its newest Triangle location Aug. 28. The fast food burger and french fry chain is at 4212 Wake Forest Road in Raleigh.
Virginia Bridges contributed to this report.
Giglio: 919-829-4649, jmgiglio@newsobserver.com and @shoptalk_nando.
