Elmo’s in Carrboro closes doors permanently as COVID-19 complicates restaurant business
After 29 years of serving breakfast all day to Carrboro and surrounding communities, Elmo’s Diner has closed its doors permanently.
“We thank you all for your understanding and support over the many years and especially now,” an Elmo’s Diner Facebook post said. “We are sad.”
The restaurant, among the latest small business to announce a closing due to COVID-19, paused its service on March 15 early on in the pandemic, according to a social media post.
North Carolina and Orange County rules have since been relaxed to allow restaurants to open up at 50% capacity. Elmo’s management wasn’t able to reopen the business that historically depended on turning tables in a cozy space, the post said.
“Elmo’s Diner Carrboro is a small space which serves many people on a weekly basis,” the post said. “Our kitchen is also small. We cannot wrap our heads around how we can safely serve people and stay distant from our co-workers and our customers. “
The decision was made to close after scrutinizing Elmo’s situation and realizing “we have been in denial for a miracle,” that isn’t on the horizon, the post said.
The restaurant hasn’t been sold, nor do the operators know what will happen with the space, the post said.
Elmo’s on Ninth Street in Durham, which is under separate ownership, is still open.
Elmo’s in Carrboro opened in 1991 in Carr Mill Mall in a time when the standard American diner was coming back into vogue, The News & Observer reported.
Its menu included breakfast items, sandwiches and “square meals” like meatloaf and shepherd’s pie.
‘Made in Heaven’
Elmo’s was named after a character in the 1987 film “Made in Heaven.”
“Elmo represented the common man and you were meant to root for his success. We liked the friendly, unpretentious sound of “Elmo’s Diner” – and we were definitely rooting for our own success – so the name stuck,” the diner’s website states. “We like to think the friendly and unpretentious qualities stuck as well.”
Cindy McMahan, her then-husband Jonas Horwitz, and Wayne Hodges opened the restaurant with the idea they would make as much of the food homemade as possible, create an affordable place for families to eat and a community atmosphere, said Horwitz, who left the business in 1995.
“That is what they did,” he said.
McMahan declined The News & Observer’s request for an interview through Nathan Milian of N.R. Milian & Associates, the commercial real estate management firm for Carr Mill Mall.
Milian said he and others worked with Elmo’s to look at outdoor seating and other options, but the numbers just didn’t work out.
“It’s heartbreaking for our community that it’s closed,” said Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle.
Losing a community spot
Elmo’s was one of Carrboro’s go-to breakfast places — “Where you could actually sit down in the heart of Carrboro and schedule meetings, just have coffee, sit up at the counter,” Lavelle said.
It’s a place where Carrboro residents take friends and family whenever they come to visit, she said.
“It’s a huge loss,” Lavelle said. “It just reflects how severe the impact of the pandemic has been on our local businesses.”
Melody Kramer of Carrboro says she used to visit Elmo’s, one of the only restaurants that open at 6:30 a.m. in the area, at least once a month. She would bring her children, 3 and 1, who were welcomed and allowed to roam if they needed to.
“I think we are losing a community spot that people gather in,” Kramer said. “It is one of the few venues that I see college students, senior citizens, and children all sharing a space.”
This story was originally published September 19, 2020 at 4:21 PM with the headline "Elmo’s in Carrboro closes doors permanently as COVID-19 complicates restaurant business."
