Snoopy’s has sold its last hot dog on Hillsborough Street near Glenwood after 30 years
Squeezed by development and the financial pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hillsborough Street Snoopy’s Hot Dogs near Glenwood Avenue has closed.
The owners announced on Facebook that the Snoopy’s location at 600 Hillsborough Street in Raleigh sold its last hotdog Sunday.
“The COVID-19 pandemic brought about changes in everyone’s habits and activities, and it also affected the operations of many businesses all around, including ours,” the Snoopy’s owners said in a statement. “Over the last few years, we have been approached by developers to sell our little corner, and now, we finally have. We cherish the memories of Christmas parades and other fun times but feel that it is time for a change and to maybe focus our attention in other areas.”
Snoopy’s is owned by Sarah Webb, who founded the restaurant with her late husband Steve Webb, and operating partners Larry and Casey Cerilli. In response to the closing news, Larry Cerilli said the phone at the other locations has been ringing off the hook.
“We’ve been blessed with the best customers,” Cerilli said in a phone interview. “Most people are understanding of the situation, just saying they remember us from their college days or a wedding.”
While not the first Snoopy’s to open in Raleigh, the 600 Hillsborough Street location was one of the most recognizable, becoming a lunchtime and late-night fixture and thriving as an Eastern North Carolina roadside hot dog stand in the middle of the capital city. This is the Snoopy’s location closest to downtown, standing near another beloved Raleigh institution, Char-Grill.
Snoopy’s opened in Raleigh in 1978 and later added the Hillsborough Street location in 1990. Three other Snoopy’s locations remain open, including the original at the corner of Wake Forest and Whitaker Mill roads, another location farther west on Hillsborough Street near Meredith College and in North Raleigh on Spring Forest Road.
Situated near downtown, the 600 Hillsborough Street Snoopy’s was popular with workers in the city and nearby N.C. State University students. In recent years, a wave of downtown redevelopment remade the blocks surrounding Snoopy’s, adding condos and apartments and increased the value of its block.
The owners said that development pressure and the difficulty of often operating a restaurant in the middle of a construction zone influenced the decision to sell and close the Hillsborough Street Snoopy’s. In a statement, the owners said workers from the 600 Hillsborough Street location would be offered jobs at other locations.
“As much as we would like to continue to be the little hot dog place on the corner, the continuing construction and the dynamic changes in downtown Raleigh were a big factor in our decision,” Snoopy’s said in a statement on Facebook. “Routinely, the power or other utilities are disrupted, roads are detoured or blocked, equipment has blocked access, and our employees find nowhere to park. Changes come and we have to accept that and look to new horizons.”
COVID has impacted every restaurant, but Cerilli said three of the four Snoopy’s locations didn’t suffer from the economic downturn or restrictions. The 600 Hillsborough Street location, though, struggled, as downtown offices were largely empty and nightlife in Raleigh was non-existent.
“That location did so much more at night than it did in the day,” Cerilli said. “There we’re open until 2 in the morning. Not having the late night crowd hit us hard.”
Cerilli declined to name the new owner, characterizing he or she only as a Raleigh investor. Snoopy’s had long been a target of redevelopment Cerilli said, but that past offers either weren’t right or fell through.
“I’d love to be there for the rest of my life, running this iconic hot dog joint beneath all these big buildings,” Cerilli said. “Lately, I couldn’t find a place to park, my vendors were stuck in one lane (construction) traffic. It was just getting to be one thing after another. The writing was on the wall.”
While the Hillsborough and Glenwood Snoopy’s is closed, Cerilli said the company is looking for a new location, preferably with room for a drive thru.
“Absolutely,” Cerilli said about the potential for a new location.
This story was originally published March 1, 2021 at 10:56 AM.
