Meryl Cullifer of the Lawrence community said the hardest thing about moving back to Edgecombe County in March 2006 was having to drive to the nearest town for a loaf of bread.

And that was before gas prices went through the roof.

"It took some getting used to," she said. "It can get pretty expensive to go to the store every time you needed something.

"And some folks in town only get an hour for lunch, which doesn't give them much time to eat if you have to drive all the way to another town to eat."

Cullifer and her husband Ellis, a native of Williamston, saw that they weren't the only ones in their community that had this problem.

"There are a lot of seniors in the area," said Ellis Cullifer. "They don't always have transportation to get places.

"We are directly in the middle of Tarboro and Scotland Neck, 10 miles in either direction."

Seeing a need in their community inspired the recently-retired couple to go back to work in December 2006, when they started renovations on a building at the crossroads in Lawrence on U.S. 258.

"There are 175 residences within a two-mile circumference of the store," said Ellis Cullifer. "I did some marketing research and saw that the people living here needed something."

After more than a year of work, the couple turned the old building into Culli's Grocery & Grill., which opened for business on May 13.

"I grew up here, this place was home to me." said Meryl Cullifer. "We built this place for them."

"This was very much a community effort," added Ellis Cullifer.

Culli's at 10183 U.S. 258 North in Lawrence, is a general-merchandise convenience store and a restaurant, with an extensive breakfast, lunch and dinner menu, available for take-out or dine-in in the dining room that Cullifer added during the renovation.

"We wanted people to be able to come in and relax, eat and watch TV or read the paper," said Ellis Cullifer. "We can seat approximately 50 people in there.

"I'm also adding a shelter with 12 picnic tables under it so people can eat outside too when the weather is nice."