New intersection

One convenience store at the intersection is closed and soon to be torn down. The Speedway store on the southwest corner of the intersection will stay open until sometime in the last quarter of the year, according to Tony Williams, who was working at the store one day earlier this week.

“Three Fridays ago, a group came by to appraise the building,” Williams said. He added that the location is a good one, and stays busy. Customers are always asking how long it will be before construction takes the store away. The store is the kind of place where some people do more than just buy something and leave.

“You build relationships with people who have been here a long time,” Williams said. “People come by and hang out and converse. It is like a mini-Wal-Mart to people out in the country.”

Bobby Shore, dropping by the store one day last week, said he wishes the construction didn’t affect the side of the road where the Speedway sits.

“I like coming here because the employees pick on you and cut up with you,” Shore said. “They don’t treat you like a customer, they treat you like family.”

The work that takes out the Speedway includes a radical change for N.C. 8 where it will intersect the new beltway.