PINEHURST, N.C. -- It's been nearly three years since the Village of Pinehurst Post Office closed its doors. Now there are plans to convert the historic building. After years of discussion as to how the building could be used, it is expected to be turned into a book and coffee shop.
"Everybody here in Pinehurst cares about history, and they sort of can't imagine what the book store would look like in the old post office because they can only envision the old post office,” said Jean Funderberg, manager of the Given Book Shop.
Years ago the building had local Pinehurst residents coming in and out throughout the day picking up mail. It was the local spot for residents to catch up and say hello.
After the post office closed, what to do with this historic building was the next question. Now, books, books and more books are filling the space.
The Given Book Shop is moving into the village, after being being located off Highway 5 outside of town for more than a decade. They hope this new location for the book shop will be an incentive for people to head to the village, spend time here and see all that it has to offer.
"And then when they see what is here and they can look in all of our cute little shops and, of course, you know we are lost in time in some ways because most of the buildings here are original,” said Audrey Moriarty, executive director of Given Memorial Library.
A coffee shop, the "Roast Office" will also be inside, bringing a unique experience inside the village.
"A really nice thing to do in the village area, there is nothing like this here, so we definitely have a claim on it,” said Samantha Johnson, Roast Office manager.
And now the hope is that this building will once again be the gathering place it once was.