Tommy Fitzgerald, owner of Clayton's 'almost famous' hot dogs, dies

Thomas Fitzgerald, who is known in Clayton for selling "almost famous" hot dogs for decades, has died.

Posted 1:01 p.m. Dec 10, 2020 — Updated 5:52 p.m. Dec 10, 2020

SELMA, N.C. — Thomas Fitzgerald, who is known in Clayton for selling "almost famous" hot dogs for decades, has died.

Fitzgerald's burger and hot dog business, The Grocery Bag, is located inside the Percy Flowers Store on N.C. Highway 42 in Clayton. In 2019, WRAL's Tar Heel Traveler interviewed Fitzgerald, who had just sold 6 million hot dogs.

The Grocery Bag was established in 1972 but has been inside Percy Flowers Store since 1983. Its "almost-famous" hot dogs and hand-rolled burgers are known for drawing busy lunch crowds.

Thomas Fitzgerald, who is known in Clayton for selling "almost famous" hot dogs for decades, has died.

Why are the hot dogs almost famous? Fitzgerald told WRAL News his very first customer asked if the hot dogs were any good. He answered, "they're almost famous," and the name stuck.

The Grocery Bag is known in Johnston County for its beloved customers and employees, who are like family.

"We try to be known as the friendliest convenience store anywhere," Fitzgerald said in 2019.

The Grocery Bag posted on Facebook that Fitzgerald died Wednesday night, saying, "Tommy truly loved each and every employee and customer like his own family. Please keep his family as well as our employees in your prayers."

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