Lloyd's Full Service Brought Cary's Oldest Corner Back to Life. Some of It Is Still Coming Soon.

Lloyd's Full Service has been open at Chatham and Academy for about two months. It opened on Wednesday, Aug. 26, in the restored service station at 107 E. Chatham St. Right now you can walk in five evenings a week, Wednesday through Sunday, and for lunch on weekends. The restored history is finished and easy to see. The newer pieces are still on the way: brunch, service from the vintage truck out front and weekday lunch. Those are the parts that would make this corner a daytime stop again.

That gap is worth knowing about before you go. It explains why the restaurant feels the way it does right now, and it tells you which version of Lloyd's you'll find on a given day.

The Corner Was a Daytime Stop for Most of a Century

The Friends of the Page-Walker, Cary's historical society, calls this intersection "Cary's original crossroads." Historian Carla Michaels found that a post office stood on the corner in the early 1900s, back when East Chatham was "nothing more than a country lane." A filling station was there by 1934. Highways 1 and 64 once ran right through the middle of Cary, so the station was a natural stop for travelers and townspeople who needed fuel.

Here is how the building changed hands over the years, drawn from Western Wake's April history piece and Cary Magazine's Oct. 1 feature:

1. 1934: A filling station is operating on the corner. Its likely first owner was R. O. Heater.
2. 1951: K.M. Lloyd, a volunteer firefighter and township constable, rebuilds it as a stucco-sided Amoco station with the green stripes Amoco used at the time.
3. 1960s: It becomes a Shell station, and the sign "Service Is Our Business" goes up on the outside, where it stays for decades.
4. The next 47 years: It runs as Gurkan's Downtown Auto Repair.
5. Aug. 26, 2026: Lloyd's Full Service opens after a two-year renovation.

When Lloyd reopened in 1951, he announced it with an ad in The News & Observer that Western Wake reprinted:

"We've just rebuilt and modernized our Amoco station at Chatham and Academy Streets, and we're mighty proud of the many improvements we've made."

The restaurant got its tagline from an even older source. Working with local historians, the Early Bird Night Owl team found a 1934 Cary High School yearbook ad for the original station that called it "the cheerful looking place on the corner." Early Bird Night Owl is the Durham hospitality group that also runs The Mayton and its restaurant, Peck & Plume, a few blocks away.

What's Finished Is the Part That Looks Backward

The restoration is the part of Lloyd's that's complete. According to Cary Magazine, roughly 1,280 square feet of the original station is still standing. It's joined by a 2,300-square-foot kitchen and dining addition and a 1,200-square-foot covered patio. The service bays are now the dining room, and the tongue-and-groove wood ceiling over them had been hidden for decades under drop ceilings and paint.

Some details carry the corner's own history:

• The old sign: "Service Is Our Business," the Shell-era slogan, was hand-painted back onto one wall at its original size and in its original font. Joseph Giampino of Raleigh's SPCLSIGNS did the painting, along with the gold-leaf lettering on the front door.
• The ceiling in the new wing: The tin tiles were salvaged from Cary's Rogers Building.
• The upholstery: An avocado-green plaid copied from a 1972 Chevrolet Highlander pickup.
• The host stand: An original window, re-paned with mirrors, hangs behind it, right where customers once bought cans of oil.

The menu points back to the neighborhood too. The Corner Dog is an all-beef hot dog that pays tribute to the lunch counter at the now-closed Ashworth Drugs across the intersection. Executive chef Dennis Bernard spent about 15 years, on and off, with Chicago's One Off Hospitality group at Publican, Blackbird, Big Star and Dove's Luncheonette. His current favorite dish is Breakfast for Dinner, made with honey-glazed pork belly, a potato pavé, a poached egg and frisée. The linguine and clams comes in a broth of turmeric, orange and house-made ginger powder. For dessert, the chocolate tres leches is topped with ricotta-mascarpone mousse.

Bernard told Cary Magazine he thinks of the menu as "a living thing" that changes with the seasons while a handful of favorites stay put. The dinner menu posted on the Lloyd's website has already moved toward fall, with grilled chicken served with kale and delicata squash and a side of charred broccoli.

What's Still Coming Is the Daytime Part

At opening, the plan was dinner from 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, lunch and dinner on weekends, and weekday lunch "in the coming weeks." WRAL's Foodie News also reported plans for expanded dinner service and a weekend brunch. Here's how that compares with what the restaurant's own site shows heading into the end of October:

The site does post a lunch menu, but on the current schedule the only lunch-hour openings are the Saturday and Sunday windows from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Every weekday opening starts at 5 p.m. Hours at a new restaurant often change, so check the site the day you plan to go.

The truck is the most visible piece still to come. Cary Magazine describes a 1930s Divco delivery truck that will double as a satellite bar and café with its own seasonal menu. The Lloyd's homepage says the truck is "parked out front" and that its rotating specials are coming soon, and it points readers to the restaurant's Instagram to hear first when they start.

Why the Missing Pieces Matter for This Corner

Everyone behind the project has said the goal was a corner with people on it. Jordan Gussenhoven of Chatham Street Commercial, one of the developers, told Western Wake that a restaurant open in the evenings brings "energy [and] light instead of a quiet, dark corner." He also said "Downtown Cary doesn't have a lot of old bones left." Craig Spitzer, Early Bird Night Owl's founder, told Cary Magazine the restaurant sits between Downtown Cary Park and Bond Brothers Beer Company, and "We're trying to create a magnet in the middle of town."

The evening part of that plan is in place. A truck serving coffee and drinks out front, plus weekday lunch, would put people on the corner during daylight hours too, the way the filling station did for decades.

The restaurant was also built for people who walk up. Dining room reservations max out at parties of six, and walk-ins are welcome anytime, especially at the bar and on the patio. "We want this type of neighborhood place where you can walk down the street and pop in for dinner, rather than having to book a table in advance," Spitzer told Cary Magazine. Inside there are 75 seats, and the covered patio holds up to 100 more. Western Wake reported that the patio canopy was planned with heaters, fans and curtains so it could be used in every season. That matters more in November than it did on opening day.

Making a Downtown Evening of It

The posted hours make Wednesday through Sunday evenings the easy choice for now. Weekend lunch is the only daytime option until weekday service begins. Walking up to the bar or patio fits how the restaurant was designed. A larger group will want a reservation, keeping the six-person cap in mind.

If you're planning a longer night downtown, Lloyd's sister property is a short walk away. The events page for Peck & Plume at The Mayton lists live jazz in The Study on Wednesday, Nov. 4. For more about everyday life around town, Kelly's Cary neighborhood page and the blog cover more of the places that shape it.

People who drove past Gurkan's for years will recognize the building right away. The stucco, the bands around the roofline and the old slogan are all back, and the dining room's open bays and the patio now sit where cars used to wait.

When I help someone get to know Cary, I start with corners like this one, where you can see a hundred years of the town in a single building. If you have a favorite downtown spot or a question about a neighborhood you're curious about, Kelly Shields would love to hear from you. And if you're wondering what your own place in Cary is worth these days, start with a free home valuation.