BY JENNY CALLISON
Enquirer Contributor
Bill Mehl, owner of Broadway News & Snack Bar in downtown Middletown, serves coffee to Curley Milton.
(Gary Landers photo)
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MIDDLETOWN -- Bill Mehl's Main Street snack bar is part lunch counter and part nostalgia trip.
Tucked into the back of his Broadway News & Snack Bar, the refurbished cafe space has checkerboard flooring and a wall adorned with old Coca-Cola signs and 45-rpm records. Customers can perch on stools at the counter or sit at round soda fountain tables.
When he bought the newsstand several years ago, the snack bar had stopped operating. Looking for a boost to business in Middletown's downtown shopping district, he opened the lunch counter in early May.
"I started with two kinds of deli sandwiches, and I keep adding more," Mr. Mehl said. "We're just renovating to try and get back to what (downtown) was historically."
From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Mr. Mehl is in the back of the store dishing out ice cream in a setting that smacks of the Fonz, Richie Cunningham and their Happy Days pals. There's no juke box, but the vinyl records affixed to the wall hint of rock 'n' roll days gone by.
Customers get soft drinks served in tall, old-style Coca-Cola glasses and chow down on salads, hotdogs and sandwiches.
"Most of our customers are repeat customers, people who have patronized this store for years, and their children," Mr. Mehl said.
Early signs say the project has been a success.
There now is a plan to expand the venture. Mr. Mehl is leasing the space next to his store to provide a non-smoking snack bar area with more tables and chairs. He's also scouting for Middletown souvenirs, postcards and more Coca-Cola memorabilia for the shop. "Then we'll have a grand reopening, probably in July," he said.
