Persian Carpet reinvents itself, plus Chapel Hill’s getting new pickleball courts

Tammy Grubb
·5 min read

Time is running out to take advantage of deep discounts as Persian Carpet ends its nearly 48-year run selling Afghan, Indian and other styles of handmade carpets to the public.

The white-clad store with the red awnings, straddling the Chapel Hill-Durham line at Interstate 40 and U.S. 15-501, will reopen next year as The Persian Carpet Curated, a wholesale and industry-only business, said Clara Johnson, the company’s director of administration.

Three showrooms will be reduced to one with a work station for interior designers, she said. The rug cleaning and repair business will continue.

The Persian Carpet’s foundation was laid in 1962 when former UNC anatomy professor Doug Lay bought an Oriental rug on his first research trip to Iran. As he bought more rugs from the Middle East, his wife Nelda Lay began selling them in a corner of the former Country Squire Antique Center (now Whitehall Antiques) in 1976.

Doug and Nelda Lay have operated The Persian Carpet at U.S. 15-501 and Interstate 40 on the Chapel Hill-Durham line for nearly 50 years. In 2024, they will close the retail store and reopen as a direct to wholesale and interior designer business.
Doug and Nelda Lay have operated The Persian Carpet at U.S. 15-501 and Interstate 40 on the Chapel Hill-Durham line for nearly 50 years. In 2024, they will close the retail store and reopen as a direct to wholesale and interior designer business.

“I figured I’d be a public school teacher,” Nelda Lay said last week.

“We were just beginning to do a few rugs, and (David Lindquist, of Whitehall Antiques) got us to rent that square right there,” she said, pointing to a showroom corner. “Our friend in Iran sent us 25 rugs ... and I managed to sell one by the end of the month so I could pay the rent.”

In 2002, their daughter Cynthia McLaren joined the business with a focus on marketing and wholesale clients. Another daughter Christin Hemmens helped in 2008 to start Southwest Looms, an official licensee for Pendleton Woolen Mills in Oregon.

Jan Ali, a member of Pakistan’s Hazaras ethnic group who started in 1979, repairs well-loved rugs, his sometimes arthritic fingers deftly weaving the seams with a small, thin needle and a length of wool thread. Empty cans of Skoal dipping tobacco and wool castoffs fill the waste can beside him. A nearby hammer is used to blend new seams into place.

Employees flip through dozens of rugs in the showroom to carefully extract the perfect one for a customer to take home.
Employees flip through dozens of rugs in the showroom to carefully extract the perfect one for a customer to take home.

The Persian Carpet’s collection now encompasses over 7,000 rugs, from traditional Middle Eastern and Persian rugs to contemporary and transitional designers. Over 60 Arts and Crafts designs are in a collection that Doug Lay launched in 1996.

The road has not been boring since the Lays met in 1958 at Louisiana State University, where their dates sometimes included snatching bullfrogs for Doug’s dinner from the banks of the bayou in a flat-bottom boat, Nelda Lay said.

They have since traveled the Great Silk Road trading routes from China to the Mediterranean Sea, hand-selecting rugs, negotiating deals with local producers, and navigating the geopolitics of the Iranian crisis of the 1970s and ‘80s and the more recent war and turmoil in Afghanistan.

In all, they imported over 70,000 rugs and developed nine internationally-distributed proprietary rug lines. In 2016, after being approached by USAID, the Lays formed a partnership that supports 200 families in villages near Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan.

Over the last 50 years, Doug and Nelda Lay have covered the entire route of the Great Silk Road, from China to the Mediterranean Sea, buying carpets and rugs and soaking in the food, cultures and people of the lands they traveled.
Over the last 50 years, Doug and Nelda Lay have covered the entire route of the Great Silk Road, from China to the Mediterranean Sea, buying carpets and rugs and soaking in the food, cultures and people of the lands they traveled.

They have “spent nights in the desert, rode on camels and elephants and tuk-tuks, ate foods they had never dreamed of at home in Louisiana and generally had a really, really good time,” according to a news release. “It was these first-hand, life-enriching experiences that deepened their adoration for each other and for the craft they’ve grown to love and share with thousands.”

While semi-retired, the Lays will keep a hand in the business, Nelda Lay said. The store will remain open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday through Monday, until the inventory is sold.

More openings & closings

▪ Pickles & Play will be opening in January at 7310 Millhouse Road in Chapel Hill for pickleball enthusiasts looking for courts where they can play closer to home.

The facility will have seven professional, indoor pickleball courts, a party room, and a pro shop, offering training, leagues, tournaments and other programs and events. Memberships will go on sale Dec. 1. Get more information at picklesandplay.com/chapel-hill.

Pickles and Play, featuring seven indoor, professional pickleball courts, will open in January at 7310 Millhouse Road in Chapel Hill.
Pickles and Play, featuring seven indoor, professional pickleball courts, will open in January at 7310 Millhouse Road in Chapel Hill.

▪ Local artists will have a new store to shop for fine arts supplies when Anne & Arthur opens this weekend at 220 S. Churton St. in Hillsborough. Graphic designer Erin Campbell is the face behind the store, which will hold a grand opening celebration Saturday, Nov. 4.

▪ A longtime spot for Asian food fans at 116 Old Durham Road is looking refreshed after a sign announcing the new, 50-seat Pocha Korean Pub & BBQ went up last week. It’s the former location of Sushi Yoshi, which closed in 2006, and MinGa Korean Restaurant, now located at 1404 E. Franklin St., next to Caribou Coffee.

Pocha, across the street from the Wegmans parking lot, has been under renovation for almost a year. The project is estimated to cost about $197,000, according to town documents.

The restaurant’s owner Kum Son Lorenz told The News & Observer in a brief call Tuesday that there is still more work to do, including passing the town’s inspections process, but they hope the new restaurant will open by end of this year or early next year.

The Orange Report

Calling Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough readers. Check out The Orange Report, a free weekly digest of some of the top stories for and about Orange County published in The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun. Get your newsletter delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday featuring stories by our local journalists. Sign up for our newsletter here. For even more Orange-focused news and conversation, join our Facebook group "Chapel Hill Carrboro Chat."