Breakfast and sandwiches are coming to ‘prize location in downtown Cary’
Last February, the news that Ashworth Drugs on the corner of West Chatham Street would be closing shocked many in the town.
Those who had walked to the store for hot dogs and orangeades or stopped by for their prescriptions couldn’t imagine Cary without the downtown pharmacy.
But Ralph Ashworth, the former pharmacist and owner of the nearly 100-year-old, two-story building, is excited about the future of the space as it becomes the new home for Once in a Blue Moon Bakery & Cafe.
Ashworth made the official announcement before Christmas.
The bakery has operated for 25 years in the Ashworth Village retail plaza at 115 W. Chatham St., just behind the former pharmacy. The relocation will expand the bakery to nearly 3,000 square feet and save it from the possible redevelopment of Ashworth Village.
Ashworth, 91, has already told owner Lily Reed what he’d like for breakfast.
“I want quiches sometimes; I want eggs benedict sometimes. I want all kinds of stuff,” he said.
Most of all, Ashworth said he wants the spot to remain a gathering place in downtown Cary.
“We had people that would eat here twice a week, sometimes they’d eat more, and people knew each other,” Ashworth said. “It was like a community.”
Reed said while the new location will see an improved bakery, visitors will see some elements of the former drug store too.
“We are going to keep the soda fountain,” Reed said. “The Ashworths were kind enough to let me keep the orange squeezer, so we’d love to keep things like the orangeade and lemonade on the menu.”
Blue Moon Bakery & Cafe sells pies, coffee, pimento cheese and sandwiches. The new menu will include hot breakfast items like breakfast burritos, Reed said.
A new start
Demolition inside the building, which Ashworth bought in 1957, is set to begin Friday but transforming the space will take months. Reed expects the store to reopen in late summer.
The bakery will have new window seating, outdoor seating, and an extended counter for more seating there, Reed said.
Ashworth said his decision to select a local business was intentional, despite getting offers from other developers. The bakery’s current building was built about 40 years ago and was one of the first businesses Ashworth helped establish in the village.
Councilwoman Lori Bush said on Facebook that the town’s Development Review Committee has discussed a proposed three-story mixed-use development with retail and restaurant space for the Ashworth Village location where the bakery is now. A development plan could be submitted to the town at a later date.
The project would include 22 multi-family units. The Ashworth building, Chatham Street Wine Market, Serendipity and Esteemed Coffee and the Academy Street Bistro would remain. Vintage Vouge and Cary Gallery of Artists in the Village Plaza are at risk.
Reed said changes are good for the town but wonders about the future of the mom-and-pop businesses that have been around for years.
“We’re grateful to represent, unfortunately, a small handful of entrepreneurs that have built their lives in this community,” Reed said. “I’m humbled and very grateful that my little cake shop is getting the spot, the prize location in downtown Cary.”
Nostalgia in Cary
Katherine Loflin, a Cary historian, said Ashworth could easily have taken a different route.
“For him to to come back with the next 2.0 to be so microlocal I think tells everybody all they need to know about Ralph Ashworth and how he feels about Cary,” Loflin said. “He could have done much more lucrative, less responsibility work on that corner.”
Loflin is looking forward to downtown Cary now having a traditional breakfast spot, which has been missing from the area.
Downtown Cary has other former buildings turned into new businesses along Chatham Street. Across from the soon-to-be new bakery, another new restaurant is coming to a former 1950s gas station. Lloyd’s Full Service will open this year at 107 E.. Chatham St.
“I know a lot of people are up in arms about new development and modern-looking stuff,” Loflin said. “But the corner of Academy and Chatham is still going to have a real feel of nostalgic Cary. I think that may be some salve to the wound that a lot of people may be having right now with all the changes.”
This story was originally published January 10, 2025 at 10:48 AM.