Gone but not forgotten: Knoxville area restaurants and retailers we miss.

[Ted]

I think the Title Max on Clinton Hwy, next to Arby's, was a Mrs. Winners. (Merchant Dr area)

Yes it was! Four Mrs. Winners.. were there any others in Knoxville back then?

 

[TN-POSSUM]

Yes it was! Four Mrs. Winners.. were there any others in Knoxville back then?

I just happened to drive by there earlier today and remembered it being there.


*There was 1 in Oak Ridge, near Arby's, but that's Anderson County

 

[Ted]

I connected the dots and realized that TitleMax negotiated a mass purchase with Famous Recipes for many of the former Mrs. Winners, at least in the locations they wanted to be in.

So here we go: Tennessee Title Loans & Flex Loans - TitleMax This is all the TM locations in Tennessee, and there are quite a few in Knoxville. When I get a chance, I'll look at those locations on Street View and see how many of the buildings were Mrs. Winners originally. They have a cookie-cutter look, naturally.

As the modern saying goes, Rabbit Hole!

 

[TN-POSSUM]

I connected the dots and realized that TitleMax negotiated a mass purchase with Famous Recipes for many of the former Mrs. Winners, at least in the locations they wanted to be in.

So here we go: Tennessee Title Loans & Flex Loans - TitleMax This is all the TM locations in Tennessee, and there are quite a few in Knoxville. When I get a chance, I'll look at those locations on Street View and see how many of the buildings were Mrs. Winners originally. They have a cookie-cutter look, naturally.

As the modern saying goes, Rabbit Hole!

 

[Ted]

There was one other TitleMax in that list that looked like Mrs. Winners. It is on Magnolia. None of the rest did. So for what it's worth (not much!) we'll leave it at five locations!

All of thpse opened in March 2004, so that confirms our memory that the Mrs. Winners closed in the early 2000's.

 

[MAD]

Who knows what place this was?

 

[Ted]

Who knows what place this was?

Where is that, Mad? Did you take the pic?

The easy answer is anywhere along any main road going into or out of Knoxville, these days.

 

[MAD]

Where is that, Mad? Did you take the pic?

The easy answer is anywhere along any main road going into or out of Knoxville, these days.

No, I didn’t take it. I’ll give a few others a chance to guess.

 

[Ted]

Oh no, is that Naples!?

Crap, it IS! No!!!

Knoxville restaurant Naples Italian on Kingston Pike demolished

NOOO!

 

[MAD]

Oh gosh no, is that Naples!?

Bingo! We got a winner.

 

[VolNExile]

Not responding to Naples (or anything else) in particular, but:

 

[Ted]

Bingo! We got a winner.

We lost a marvelous old restaurant and wonderful memories.

I loved Naples! The Lupers were terrific people, too.

I hadn't heard it was slated for demolition. What I do know is that any vacant older building along Kingston Pike that is for sale for over a year will be demolished. It's happened multiple times in the last few years now. I was seriously afraid Naples was next. I hadn't been through there in a couple weeks, so didn't see any site prep.

I bet the old White Store there in Bearden, that we've talked about recently, will go soon. It's been empty for several years now.

 

[MAD]

Not responding to Naples (or anything else) in particular, but:

Haven’t heard this in forever.
Very appropriate post.

 

[Ted]

Looking at the KnoxNews pictures, the property owner didn't even attempt to auction the furniture.

 

[MAD]

Looking at the KnoxNews pictures, the property owner didn't even attempt to auction the furniture.

I noticed that too.

 

[Ted]

So much Knoxville history is piling up in the Chestnut Ridge Landfill, the graveyard of many of the places we held dear.

As I've said before, developer money is trumping everything these days. It's sickening to see what's happening here.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

So much Knoxville history is piling up in the Chestnut Ridge Landfill, the graveyard of many of the places we held dear.

As I've said before, developer money is trumping everything these days. It's sickening to see what's happening here.

A&M Enterprises owns the Naples property.

TN Secretary of State search has principle offices of A&M at 135 S Forest Park.

135 S Forest Park is named Cappiello Real Estate and is owned by TOMPAT Properties with an address of 4705 Kingston Pike.

4705 Kingston Pike is owned by ???. 4705 KP no longer exists. It would have been very close to 135 S Forest Park

Who tore down this piece of Knoxville history?

Not saying that the developer Tony Cappiello tore down the Naples building, but there is a connection.

 

[Vjcvette]

Who knows what place this was?

View attachment 541470

So sad......just seeing the "Once was" pictures are just sad

 

[Ted]

Cru, another fun, more recent restaurant, left us during the pandemic. There were two locations- one on the 100 block of Gay Street where Shuck was before they moved to Bearden, and then there was a Turkey Creek location. I read this morning that yet another Mexi place, Condado Tacos, is going into the Turkey Creek location. I don't think we need any more Mexi restaurants here at this point..

Shuck was a fine oyster bar in its time. They stayed for a while out in Bearden, but Nama's group changed the concept in 2019, and it's now called "Harvest". Boo.

I don't know what was in the building at 5200 Kingston Pike originally. I do remember a fine dining place called Chez Liberty there back in the late 00's. I think Shuck was in there next, the sign out front said "Est. 2011". Then Harvest.

5130 Kingston Pike was the original location of Bistro by the Tracks. After Bistro left for Brookview Center, and wherever they end up next (!), there was a tapas bar called Cha Cha's. Then it became the second location of Nama Sushi Bar.

The question for you long-timers in Knoxville is, what was in those two buildings before the 2000's?


Here is a pic of the Turkey Creek Cru as it was.



Bearden Shuck sign:

 

[Ted]

I'm still sad about Naples being gone. Many good memories there!

 

[Ted]

Who tore down this piece of Knoxville history?

Not saying that the developer Tony Cappiello tore down the Naples building, but there is a connection.

Good research as always, TGO!

That's the way things work around here these days. Freestanding places get at most a couple of years to sell when they are vacated, and then boom, down they go. Capiello at least gave the Naples property four years to sell. That land in that location has to be worth a lot of money.

 

[MAD]

Site of original Copper Cellar restaurant sold to Chicago housing developer | wbir.com

 

[kiddiedoc]

Cru, another fun, more recent restaurant, left us during the pandemic. There were two locations- one on the 100 block of Gay Street where Shuck was before they moved to Bearden, and then there was a Turkey Creek location. I read this morning that yet another Mexi place, Condado Tacos, is going into the Turkey Creek location. I don't think we need any more Mexi restaurants here at this point..

Shuck was a fine oyster bar in its time. They stayed for a while out in Bearden, but Nama's group changed the concept, and it's now called "Harvest". Boo.

Here is a pic of the Turkey Creek Cru as it was.

View attachment 542235

Cru on Gay is now Harvest (same owners) and damn good (but expensive).

The Turkey Creek location is reopening as an upscale tequila and taco spot (think Chivo?) that we are pretty excited about. There's nothing like that in Farragut, and I bet it does well

 

[Ted]

Cru on Gay is now Harvest (same owners) and damn good (but expensive). The Turkey Creek location is reopening as an upscale tequila and taco spot

Shuck on Gay becaume Cru, which became Wicked Chicken, and is now Harvest's second location. All the same restaurant group, trying different concepts. Turkey Creek Cru is becoming Condado Tacos, but Condado is an Ohio-based chain with different owners than Nama's group.

 

[Ted]

This article in WBIR was almost too much to bear: Wrecking ball blues: Knoxville landmarks are coming down | wbir.com

Go look at it anyway, but be prepared to be melancholy. A lot of the same places we've talked about here on VolNation- in one article, and post-demolition pictures.