The familiar trays and dining room décor at Gray Brothers Cafeteria in Mooresville are not coming back to the line. The family-run landmark is clearing out much of its dining room and kitchen, with ovens, serving lines, plates and decorative signage all headed to an online-only auction next week. The move closes a long chapter for the cafeteria while the owners weigh what the next version of Gray Brothers might look like.
According to the auction listing from Universal Liquidation Specialists, the sale is online only, with an on-site inspection set for next Thursday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and online bidding scheduled to close at 10 a.m. the following day. FOX59 reports that hundreds of lots are up for grabs, including commercial ranges, walk-in coolers, serving lines, dishware and decorative pieces pulled from decades of service, and notes that bidding has already begun.
Mooresville fixture for decades
Gray Brothers has been feeding central Indiana diners since 1944 and has operated at 555 S. Indiana Street since the 1960s, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal. The family has cited rising costs, inflation and a drop in traffic as reasons the traditional cafeteria model no longer worked. The Mooresville dining room closed last year, local TV coverage from WRTV reported. The owners put the property on the market earlier this year while exploring smaller, franchised or carryout-first options for the brand, the Indianapolis Business Journal noted.
What’s up for bid
The sale is being handled by Universal Liquidation Specialists, which lists the Gray Brothers dispersal on its upcoming-auctions calendar. The auction company and news coverage say the catalog runs into the hundreds of lots and includes walk-in refrigeration, commercial ranges, prep tables, serving lines, china and decorative signage taken from the Mooresville dining room.
Property and price
The Mooresville site includes roughly a 17,787-square-foot main building plus warehouse space and sits on about five acres, according to the public listing. The property was listed earlier this year with an asking price that reached $10 million before being reduced, per MLS records and the public listing on Weichert.
The Gray family has described the sale as a pivot rather than a farewell and has indicated plans to bring the brand back in some form at an undisclosed location, the Indianapolis Business Journal reports. For now, buyers and collectors who want a piece of the Mooresville institution can browse the lot list and register to bid through Universal Liquidation Specialists as the online sale heads toward next Friday’s scheduled close.
