MINT HILL, N.C. — At Penny's Place in Mint Hill, the daily special isn't on the menu. It's in the hearty laughter that's captured by the colorful walls of the small restaurant on Fairview Road.
A lot has changed in Penny's Place's 80 years, but as the small country restaurant has become part of Charlotte's suburban sprawl, the customers have stayed the same.
"Back in the 50's I used to skip school to come up here and play pool," customer Laurin Quillen told Channel 9.
Customer Hamp Dulin said, "We use this as a breakfast club. A lot of us meet in here, the older ones, and sit around, eat breakfast and talk about all the stuff you don't hear on the news."
Men such as Dulin and Quillen grew up in the seats at Penny's Place, and while they traded their triumphs there, they also suffered through their sorrows.
"We went through Hurricane Hugo and all together and everybody did the best they could to help each other out," Dulin said.
Owner Bill Kiser plans to retire in two weeks.
"We done 80 years this year," he said.
His family has been running the restaurant since the 1930s. While there is a buyer interested in keeping Penny's Place the way it is, customers are spilling their concerns over their coffee.
"We didn't think it would be too good for us because we do a lot of drinking coffee and talking more than we do eating and paying so we don't know how the new owner is going to think of loitering from old people," Dulin said.
As change boils to the surface of the well-known and well-loved restaurant, many customers aren't ready to let go.
"We'll probably come back after it's locked up, and sit outside and talk," Dulin said.
Penny's is part of Mint Hill's past, and its customers hope the next owner will preserve this place because its rich history is just as unique as the characters who walk through these doors every day.
Kiser says the potential buyer, who is trying to close the deal by Dec.15, is still trying to meet all the landlord's requirements.
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