Sutton's survives

Walking into Sutton’s Drug Store is like walking into the past.

While the soda fountain takes you back to when cheeseburgers and pharmacies were a given combination, Sutton’s isn’t falling behind the times.

The photographs of customers that plaster the walls of the dining booths are constantly being updated, and recent Carolina basketball jerseys are bound to be hanging from the ceiling.

But later this year, Walgreens will be the new competition for this long-standing independent pharmacy and lunch counter that has been a fixture on Franklin Street since 1923.

“There’s been Revco, Rite Aid, Kerr Drug — we’ve outlasted the three of them. Now we have to take on Walgreens,” said John Woodard, Sutton’s owner and head pharmacist since 1977.

Woodard was in his usual place Tuesday behind the pharmacy counter, uncapping prescription bottles, counting pills and answering the phone with a polite, ‘Sorry to keep you waiting.’

Then he stapled a prescription bag, came around the counter and personally handed it to a young man eating a cheeseburger.

It was UNC freshman Alex Lang’s first time at Sutton’s. He needed his prescription filled around lunchtime and was surprised to find a lunch counter in the pharmacy.

“I think it’s awesome. I’ve had nothing like this before,” Lang said. “I love it, though.”

He later confirmed his cheeseburger was the best he’d ever had.

Lang said even with Walgreens coming, he’ll keep filling his prescription at Sutton’s. But he doesn’t think others will feel the same.

“I really like the atmosphere, but I don’t think (Sutton’s) could compete,” Lang said.

But Lang is new to Chapel Hill, and for those who grew up here, Sutton’s is the kind of local institution that doesn’t disappear at the first sight of a challenge.

“You always have to be concerned,” said manager Don Pinney, who has been at Sutton’s for 31 years.

“We’ll adjust to what goes on, but I think our roots are deep enough.”

Pinney said that the Chapel Hill community will continue to support Sutton’s, even if Walgreens provides greater variety.

“Walgreens may help us, may hinder us. I don’t know,” Pinney said. “The Chapel Hill mentality is very good for us. A lot of people believe in supporting the local and the independent.”

And local and independent is exactly what Sutton’s is.

Chapel Hill resident and UNC alumnus Jim Neal, who ran for U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary last spring, is a regular at Sutton’s.

“I would pay more to come here because of the quality of the service,” Neal said, as he stood in line at the pharmacy counter Tuesday.

“Where else in the world can you forget to pick up a prescription on time and call John Woodard, and he’ll say, ‘I’ll leave it at the counter at Jack Sprat’s next door’? There are very few places like that.”

Junior Stephanie Davis agreed.

“When you think Franklin Street, you think Sutton’s. You’re not ever gonna be like, ‘Oh, Franklin Street — Walgreens.’ It’s not the same charm.”

Walgreens had been scouting out property on Franklin Street since at least 2006. But as long as it doesn’t start serving lunch, Woodard isn’t too worried.

“We don’t think they’ll … damage us to the point where we’ll have to close up,” Woodard said. “When you mention Sutton’s, the one thing they think about is cheeseburgers and hamburgers and milk shakes. So as long as Walgreens isn’t putting in a fountain, we’re OK.”


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