Providence Road Sundries has a new menu and updated interior, but the memories stay
AT THIS VERY SPOT in front of the kitchen on these wooden floors that are older than he is, Paul Bell has heard the stories of two women and how their water broke, right here at this very spot in front of the kitchen.
“Don’t quote that! Don’t quote that!” Bell’s wife of 33 years, Meredith, says, bashfully, as she swats his arm and smiles.
So Meredith tells another, more family-friendly story about Providence Road Sundries, the 84-year-old bar and restaurant where she and Paul are majority owners. They bought most of Paul’s brother, Doug’s, shares of the place in May 2016. But they were customers long before that. They’ve heard all the stories, and they’ve made some themselves.Eighty-four years in business for a bar makes for a whole lot of stories, a whole lot of memories from a whole lot of regulars.
Regulars such as Joe Marley, who, on a Wednesday evening in April, sits in a booth behind Paul and Meredith. He’s been coming here for more than 50 years. Back then, Providence Road Sundries was a drug store and soda shop. It used to be called Smith’s Pharmacy, named after the spot’s Dr. Smith. The now-defunct Eckerd Drug Store in Myers Park Shopping Center proved to be too much competition, so the pharmacy section shuttered. The soda shop remained until the mid- 1970s, when then-owner John DeRamus converted it to a bar and deli.
In 1965, when Marley was 10, he’d play football a few doors down Providence Road in Christ Episcopal Church’s front yard. Then, he’d come to Smith’s for bubblegum and snacks.
This story is from the August 2017 edition of Charlotte Magazine.
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This story is from the August 2017 edition of Charlotte Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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