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

#2,426
#2,426
Wireless1 said:
I’m betting that the ground floor and maybe one up and down for that building will be restaurants, night clubs, package stores and other businesses catering to the university community just like the businesses they are replacing. The differences will really be the 6 to 12 stories above them that house students at $800-1500 per month at a pop.
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You're probably right, mixed use development, but the point is that although these buildings may have some of the same business types as the Strip did, but it isn't the Strip any more.
 
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#2,427
#2,427
WallyBalls said:
Wasn't Makino's a Logan's Roadhouse?
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That sounded right, so I did a city property tax lookup. The owner is listed as Regal Acquisitions LLC, and the subdivision is listed as "Logan's Roadhouse"!

There was another Logan's Roadhouse in Knoxville, at 201 Cedar Lane. I remember that one back in the early 00's. It closed, probably around the same time the Kingston Pike location did, and was demolished.

Rafferty's built a location on the other side of Cedar going back toward I-75 and lasted there till sometime in the mid-00's (if memory serves.) Puleo's expanded into that building and was open until all of their locations closed during the pandemic. The Rafferty's on Kingston Pike lasted a few years longer than the Cedar Lane location did.

Going out on a small limb here and predicting Makino's will close inside of two years. It's strange that all the other oriental buffets that closed the buffets during the pandemic have resumed the full open buffets again, but Makino's hasn't. We've even had a new place, Grand Buffet, open in the former Golden Corral at the corner of Callahan and Clinton, with a full open buffet.
 
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#2,428
#2,428
Ted said:
You're probably right, mixed use development, but the point is that these buildings may have some of the same business types as the Strip, but it isn't the Strip any more.
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With that I’ll agree, but 40 years from not there will be VNers reminiscing about the good old days at these new hang outs
 
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#2,431
#2,431
mad4vols said:
Agreed and they would probably look at photos of the old strip and think it looked horrible.
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I don't think it's required of any of us here on VolNation to try to be fair about things like the destruction of the Strip. If we think things were better back when, then who cares if kids 40 years from now like this evolving mess on Cumberland Avenue. They weren't around here 1965-202x! :)
 
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#2,433
#2,433
Maybe there will be replacement businesses all along the street level spaces that will be really nice. But will there be anywhere to park my car if I go down there?
 
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#2,434
#2,434
Ted said:
I don't think it's required of any of us here on VolNation to try to be fair about things like the destruction of the Strip. If we think things were better back when, then who cares if kids 40 years from now like this evolving mess on Cumberland Avenue. They weren't around here 1965-202x! :)
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I grew up on the strip. My parents had a shop on Cumberland Ave, for 5 years I went to a private school behind Burger King in the early 70’s. Remember when the Oldsmobile dealership was located where the McDonald’s is. Remember people sitting around waiting for streakers. I don’t think any of it is better now, all I have now are just the memories.
 
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#2,435
#2,435
Thunder Good-Oil said:
Maybe there will be replacement businesses all along the street level spaces that will be really nice. But will there be anywhere to park my car if I go down there?
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Have you seen how deep they dig the foundation? There’s more parking below grade than there ever was above ground, unfortunately that’s for those 7 stories of tenants in the building……..so the real answer is nope
 
#2,436
#2,436
Wireless1 said:
Have you seen how deep they dig the foundation? There’s more parking below grade than there ever was above ground, unfortunately that’s for those 7 stories of tenants in the building……..so the real answer is nope
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The best parking between the Strip, the Old City, and Market Square is Market Square (evenings and weekends). Unfortunately it shuts down early.
 
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#2,437
#2,437
February 6th they will be demolishing that whole block on the strip for student housing and it
sure is sad to see all of the old landmarks slowly go away :(
 
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#2,439
#2,439
We will be losing the first, and last remaining, location of Smoky Mountain Market on Chapman Hwy.

A eulogy for the Smoky Mountain Market - Knox TN Today

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This is an old picture, back when it was still open. You wouldn't want to see it at present. Ramshackle, and graffiti-covered.

I love KnoxTnToday.com and keep up with it every week. They have people like us writing for them. People who also remember Knoxville and Knox County the way it was, and mourn its continued passing away- its people, businesses, buildings, and traditions.
 
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#2,443
#2,443
Hurley Mooncalf said:
I'm surprised that Rule hasn't been taken down already. It closed in the 1980s. I honestly thought that property had already been repurposed.
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It was on the Knox Heritage endangered places / Fragile 15 lists for quite some time. The County had some interest in redevelopment into the usual things like senior citizen living, but ultimately the County had spent too little money for stabilization and maintenance after the school system gave it to them, and it's in pretty bad shape now.

Speaking of those lists, I just checked and it appears that Knox Heritage discontinued them after 2020. I've written them to ask.
 
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