Many remember doughnuts as a childhood treat that gives you the warm feeling of home. In our home, Shallotte, The Filling Station is providing these memories to customers of all ages.

Alysa and Grady Watkins, owners of The Filling Station, transformed a popular 1940s Mobil Pegasus gas station into a successful doughnut and coffee business, continuing the trend of bringing smiles to a local hang-out spot. The Filling Station received its familiar name from locals that would head to “the filling station” for gas and a hotdog.

“When the one room school was open, this was the field they played baseball in,” said Alysa. “And then it transitioned to if you go out back you can see where they used to take motors out of the car and where they used to work on cars in the back where we built the outside building”.

Although remodeling a building approximately seven decades old comes with a package of problems, the Watkins’ were thrilled to take on a new project. From the beginning to end, they worked strenuously together to create their dream building from a drawing to reality.

“It was a dump, so it was a project, it was a total mess and I could see fixing it up and changing it totally. It did not have air conditioning, it did not have anything but a potbelly stove when we came and took it over. It was full of mold, so Mr. Grady and I took it on as a project together, and we built out my dream,” said Alysa, donning a large smile.

The Filling Station has a passion for cooking because employees like Stephan, who prepares the doughnuts for decoration, begin work at five in the morning to create fresh donuts each day. Making sure no dough goes to waste, the scraps will become new creations such as their cinnamon twist. The Watkins’ passion spreads to the community by ensuring that everyone will get a taste of a Filling Station doughnut, even if they can’t afford it.

“I love feeding people, and that’s like everyday when we have something that we finish with, we go to a food pantry because a lot of people can’t afford to come in here,” said Alysa.

In order for The Filling Station to cater to customers’ ever-changing taste buds, the business has created many kinds of doughnuts–ranging from the fan favorite, maple bacon, to a kid-friendly cookie monster and my favorite, banana pudding. Staff member Chelsea says she is hoping for a new holiday flavor such as candy cane or hot chocolate.

“We took my crazy ideas, your sister’s [Megan’s] crazy ideas, and lots of other people’s crazy ideas and we just started having fun with the doughnuts, so now we have over 50 kinds by playing around and having fun with our food,” said Alysa.

With The Filling Station growing bigger everyday since opening two years ago, the business has focused on maintaining a friendly environment focused on the people of the community. This idea is always remembered through the photos of the building from 1940 hanging on the wall as a constant reminder of serving others.

“My passion is seeing people happy and food makes people happy,” said Alysa.

Click here to see a behind the scenes video of how a doughnut is made at The Filling Station!