Heart of the Town: The Davidson Soda Shop Celebrates 75 Years of Community and Cottage Fries
October 28, 2026
- Author
- Caroline Roy ’20
For the past three quarters of a century, generations of Davidson students, alums, community members and their families have come to the Soda Shop on Main Street to share an orangeade, oval-shaped cottage fries and good company.
The town looks a lot different than it did when Mary Potts and Murray Flemmings first opened the M&M Soda Shop in 1951, but the local landmark remains a living monument to Davidson history. The walls are covered in old photographs, artwork and artifacts from those who have passed through its doors. Oldies music still plays over the speakers, although these days, they’ve added hits from the ’70s and ’80s to the lineup. A burned-out “Time to Eat” sign hangs on the back wall from the restaurant’s early days.
Current owner Misty Utech, who has spent the past 25 years working behind the counter, says if she ever changes anything, her regulars notice.
“To me, it’s a matter of keeping those anchors that people remember and come back to,” she said. “People love this place for the consistency and quality of what we serve, but also for the opportunities to connect.”
We draw people in, and they stay.
Owner, Davidson Soda Shop
In her years working and running the Soda Shop, Utech has witnessed first dates, watched children grow up and built lifelong friendships across the counter. Her team, which includes her daughter, Taylor, feels like a tight-knit family.
“We draw people in, and they stay,” she said. “I love that I’m able to keep this place what it is for the town.”
We asked Davidson alums and community members to share their favorite memories from the past 75 years of the Soda Shop.
Here’s what they said:
Toasted egg salad sandwich and fresh-squeezed orangeade during the 10 a.m. hour after checking my P.O. box. It was called M&M Soda Shop for Murray and Mary when I was a student.
‘A special and Big O, please!’ Is there anything else that needs to be said?
I don't know if my dad’s caricature is still on the wall, but it was there when I was a kid and when I was a first-year student at Davidson in 2006. My dad, Bart Landess ’81, was on the cross country team at Davidson. I don't remember the full story, but a bunch of Davidson athletes had their caricatures drawn, and my dad’s story is that he, Richard Terry and Cam Zurbruegg just never picked their pictures up, so the Soda Shop hung them.
I grew up in Davidson, and the older elementary schoolers and middle schoolers from Davidson Elementary and Davidson IB would walk to the Soda Shop after school on Fridays. We’d get cottage fries and orangeade and would squirt the ketchup into the bubbles in the oval-shaped cottage fries. Afterwards, we’d play touch football on the green in front of the library. It was a pretty idyllic part of my childhood.
Caricatures of Cam Zurbruegg, Richard Terry and Bart Landess ’81
I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s, when casseroles reigned supreme at dinner and fancy sandwiches were served at special occasions. One of my favorite special sandwiches at home was olive and cream cheese on white bread. When I landed at the Soda Shop, I'd order that same sandwich from the menu and relish every bite.
Being new to North Carolina, I discovered Cheerwine at the Soda Shop. Most friends thought my favorite combination for sandwich and drink was awful, but I guess it just wasn’t for them!
Every Saturday for years, my daughter and I would go to the Soda Shop for grilled cheese and milkshakes after her soccer games. I have such fond memories of her as a little one, playing with toys from the milk crate and begging for old-timey candy from the case. But more importantly, the Soda Shop was where we bonded. To this day, even though we’ve moved to Charlotte, my daughter still asks for a Davidson day when she wants quality time with me, and Davidson days always start at the Soda Shop. Thanks for being so special to my family!
Associate professor of gender and sexuality studies
I remember the orange drink with great fondness!
My mother would never let me forget that I thought Mary’s egg salad was better than hers.
I worked as a waitress at the Soda Shop while a student at Davidson. I worked there my entire freshman year and a couple of months into my sophomore year. It was a great place to work, and I credit my knowledge of all the “oldies” music with the fact that we could only play that one radio station. I learned how to make “sugar water” first thing whenever I opened the shop, received many bruises on my right arm from scooping the very hard ice cream, joked around with the cooks and drank many Big O’s and milkshakes.
I was working there when the Soda Shop added a beer tap and started staying open in the evenings. I am a terrible judge of age and remember carding a lady who was in her 40s. I was extremely embarrassed, but it made her day! Those of us working one Halloween were told to dress up and that there would be a $25 prize for the server with the best costume. I dressed in a stuffed plastic pumpkin yard bag and I won! Over Easter weekend my freshman year, the Soda Shop owners were going to be out of town, so I was trusted with keys to their house around the corner and the keys to the shop so I could open and close the restaurant. I felt excited and scared with all the responsibility. But the best times were when my friends came in every once in a while to order and left me large tips. They say that everyone should work in the service industry at some point, and the Soda Shop was that for me. I learned many valuable lessons and had a great time in the process.
My wife joined me for my 50th reunion, and when we had free time, she asked if we could go to the Soda Shop. She had heard it was special. Walking there, I shared some of my memories with her, starting with the original name, M&M Soda Shop, but Mary and Murray were no longer there. Outside, we saw some others attending the reunion, who asked Cindy why she wanted to go there. She said, “Because I heard that all the Davidson boys take their girl to the Soda Shop!” Of course, we all agreed heartily.
My wife and I graduated from Davidson in 1991. In February 1992, I met her at the Soda Shop for a meal and proposed to her in the second booth to the right. We were married at Davidson College Presbyterian Church a year later. Fond memories of this special place!
Congrats on 75 years! These engagement photos from fall 2013 were taken by local photographer Jillian Knight. Jillian is a high school friend of mine and my husband, Thomas Ulmer. We all grew up together and went to North Mecklenburg High School. Jillian was building her photography business at the time and offered to take our engagement photos. We all agreed we had to take photos at our favorite ice cream shop (I am an ice cream fanatic!) and in the place where Thomas and I had our first kiss!
Photos by jillianknight.com
For members of the Class of ’73, 10 a.m. was not for chapel, it was for checking your P.O. box and meeting buddies at the Soda Shop. Conversations could range from plans for the weekend to Professor Gil Hollands’s latest add-on to his romantic literature syllabus, to the acceptance (or rejection) letter that you just received. But the constant was Mary and Murray’s ham ’n egg and a Big Orange. Living in Charlotte, I’m often up in Davidson, and although a lot has changed about the Soda Shop, I’ve taken my daughters and nowadays my grandchildren for a good lunch and a lot of great memories.
I moved to Davidson with my family of six in 1958. My dad was a physics professor at the college, and we lived in a small rental house on Concord Road. In 1959, when I was in high school, we moved to a larger college home on North Main Street. When the school bus from North Mecklenburg High School unloaded at the Davidson Elementary School (now the Town Hall), I walked past the M&M Soda Shop every afternoon. It was a real treat to be able to stop and get a 10-cent cherry Coke on my way home. I will always remember Mary and Murray and what a special role their business played in the history of our town. Today, our children, who were raised in Davidson, always include a trip to the Soda Shop when they return with their children for a visit.
I have been a season-ticket holder for men’s basketball since the Curry years. For almost every game, my grandson sat in the seat to my right, from elementary school through high school. Most of those games began with a meal at the Soda Shop—tuna melt with curly fries and a shake. Often, the “boss” would see us coming and start the prep without even asking. There have been many good conversations over those meals: life, school, sports and, of course, girls. Lots of memories.
After compulsory Wednesday chapel/convocation, I joined what seemed like the entire student body in trooping across Main Street to check our P.O. boxes and then head down the street for a late Soda Shop breakfast. The fare never changed, for me at least: egg salad sandwich (on white bread, of course) and a Big O.
My experience was pretty limited to that pairing until my senior year, when the Soda Shop hired me part time to help during the crunch times. Then, I learned of another soon-to-be favorite: Murray’s cream cheese and olive sandwich, as well as the second fresh-pressed drink, the Big L. Those four items pretty well summed up my culinary world.
Mary and Murray made an interesting team. They worked well together, even as it was pretty clear to me who called the shots. They were pleasant to work with but did not put up with any foolishness. All in all, I have nothing but fond memories of my time at and behind the counter.
I was born and raised in Davidson, graduating from North Mecklenburg High in 1984, and visited the M&M regularly as a child in the late 1970s. The decor was nostalgic even then, and it was thrilling to eat out with friends. Murray and Mary taught me that as an unaccompanied 12-year-old, service in their restaurant was a privilege, and not a right! Both were quick to scold their younger patrons, and I was always on my best behavior as a result.
When I was about six years old, around 1955, I was convinced that M&M candy was made back in the kitchen.
We kids were pretty obstreperous, and Mary and Murray had no patience for us. At one point, we thought it would be cool to camp out in a booth after school and do our homework. “No way,” according to Mary and Murray, who firmly excused us if we weren’t buying something!
Mary and Murray were business partners in the operation, and there was always a fair amount of tension between the two as to who did the most work!
