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

[MAD]

Owners say goodbye to Knoxville antique store | WATE 6 On Your Side

 

[Ted]

East Towne Mall / Knoxville Center is completely demolished now. The site is continuing to be cleared for construction of the Amazon distribution center.

 

[EricStratton]

The Wrangler. Best met and beans in town.

 

[Ted]

The Wrangler. Best met and beans in town.

Eric, where was The Wrangler?

It's not the place on Broadway I was asking about, but apparently Knoxville had a thing for metts and beans at one time!

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Eric, where was The Wrangler?

It's not the place on Broadway I was asking about, but apparently Knoxville had a thing for metts and beans at one time!

Right next to the train trestle on Northshore Drive just south of the Kingston Pike intersection.

 

[EricStratton]

Metts and beans, much like the beloved “full house” is a Knoxville staple.

 

[Ace]

Bump

 

[9296potsguy]

What was the name of the discounted clothing store by CD Exchange on Chapman? Used to find Banana Republic jeans there for under 10 bucks. That place clothed me in the 90s.

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

East Towne Mall is completely demolished now. The site is continuing to be cleared for construction of the Amazon distribution center.

Welllll if y’all are out that way…. the OneLife church east Campus is right across from the demolished site

Best church in the Knoxville area IMO

(Shameless plug)

 

[pismonque]

Welllll if y’all are out that way…. the OneLife church east Campus is right across from the demolished site

Best church in the Knoxville area IMO

(Shameless plug)

Do they sell Orange Julius and Dippin Dots?

 

[Hurley Mooncalf]

Welllll if y’all are out that way…. the OneLife church east Campus is right across from the demolished site

Best church in the Knoxville area IMO

(Shameless plug)

Good folks in there. I've been there a time or two myself.

 

[MAD]

Hearing all the Pilot gas stations in Knoxville have been sold and will become Casey’s General Store.

 

[Godfatha]

Hearing all the Pilot gas stations in Knoxville have been sold and will become Casey’s General Store.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I've never been to a Casey's.

 

[MAD]

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I've never been to a Casey's.

I haven’t either

 

[Ted]

Hearing all the Pilot gas stations in Knoxville have been sold and will become Casey’s General Store.

This is true. I just now confirmed it with a friend who works in Pilot/Flying J corporate. Also, check this article on the NASDAQ website.

Note that the ones that are being sold are the smaller gas-only Pilot convenience stores, like the two on Merchants Dr. at I-75 exit 108, and not the big Pilot Flying J travel centers that sell diesel and cater to the trucking industry, like the one at Strawberry Plains, I-40 exit 398.

 

[Ted]

Does anyone remember a Victoria Station steakhouse location in Knoxville in the 1970's?

The chain went bankrupt in 1986. I went to the one in Louisville, Ky back in the early 70's and was thinking about it recently, so I looked them up on Wikipedia. (link) The wiki listed Knoxville as one of the locations.

I don't remember one ever being here, but I didn't live in Knoxville back then. If there was one, where was it located?

Victoria Station's specialty was prime rib. The restaurants were constructed from interconnected old boxcars and cabooses. Here's what their signs typically looked like:

 

[Ted]

It (Shakey's Pizza... Ted) was where Quincy's steakhouse ended up being built. Now, there's a carwash and a Starbucks next door to where it was.

Does anyone else remember a Shakey's at this location on Old Broadway? I think I do, and I have a friend who grew up in Knoxville, went to Central High, who says he remembers one there as well.

The Starbucks that is there now was first constructed as a Fazoli's Italian restaurant in the 1980's. That location of Fazoli's went out in the early 2010's, then it became a buffet called Range House Restaurant for most of the 2010's. Range House was owned by the same family as Austin's Steak and Buffet on Merchants Dr. After Range House, Dean's Restaurant and Bakery from Oak Ridge opened a second location there, and made a very short go of it, only staying open less than a year. Then came the Starbucks.

The Quincy's that was located where the carwash is now, was there for many years. Wasn't it a Western Sizzlin' in the 1970's before it was a Quincy's?

 

[MAD]

Does anyone remember a Victoria Station steakhouse location in Knoxville in the 1970's?

The chain went backrupt in 1986. I went to the one in Louisville, Ky back in the early 70's and was thinking about it recently, so I looked them up on Wikipedia. (link) The wiki listed Knoxville as one of the locations.

I don't remember one ever being here, but I didn't live in Knoxville back then. If there was one, where was it located?

Victoria Station's specialty was prime rib. The restaurants were constructed from interconnected old boxcars and cabooses. Here's what their signs typically looked like:

View attachment 397936

I don’t remember the one in Knoxville but I remember going to one once, maybe in Ohio.

 

[MAD]

Does anyone else remember a Shakey's at this location on Old Broadway? I think I do, and I have a friend who grew up in Knoxville, went to Central High, who says he remembers one there as well.

The Starbucks that is there now was first constructed as a Fazoli's Italian restaurant in the 1980's. That location of Fazoli's went out in the early 2010's, then it became a buffet called Range House Restaurant for most of the 2010's. Range House was owned by the same family as Austin's Steak and Buffet on Merchants Dr. After Range House, Dean's Restaurant and Bakery from Oak Ridge opened a second location there, and made a very short go of it, only staying open less than a year. Then came the Starbucks.

The Quincy's that was located where the carwash is now, was there for many years. Wasn't it a Western Sizzlin' in the 1970's before it was a Quincy's?

I only remember the one on Kingston Pike.

 

[MAD]

Here is a question for everyone, if you could bring back one business, which would it be?

The first one I thought of was Swensen’s Ice Cream at Downtown West.

What would yours be?

 

[VolInNorthCack]

Here is a question for everyone, if you could bring back one business, which would it be?

The first one I thought of was Swensen’s Ice Cream at Downtown West.

What would yours be?

Great choice. Loved Swensen's.


I'd have to go with Garcia's or Casa Gallardo or Darryl's. (Honorable mention: Duff's)

 

[Wireless1]

Here is a question for everyone, if you could bring back one business, which would it be?

The first one I thought of was Swensen’s Ice Cream at Downtown West.

What would yours be?

Big Daddy's or Uncle Sam's........a different era......

 

[MAD]

Great choice. Loved Swensen's.


I'd have to go with Garcia's or Casa Gallardo or Darryl's. (Honorable mention: Duff's)

I love all those picks. Especially the first two. Was Duff’s the one with fried chicken coming around on a conveyor belt?

 

[PEPPERJAX]

Here is a question for everyone, if you could bring back one business, which would it be?

The first one I thought of was Swensen’s Ice Cream at Downtown West.

What would yours be?

That place was awesome.

 

[VolInNorthCack]

I love all those picks. Especially the first two. Was Duff’s the one with fried chicken coming around on a conveyor belt?

Yes it was. But it wasn't just chicken. Everything came around on a conveyer belt lol.