There is a 1.5 mile stretch of South Blvd (running from just South of Archdale until just North of Tyvola) that boasts a surprising number of "Under New Management" buildings. These are buildings that were originally built by a restaurant chain and though the buildings have changed owners, the architecture design easily gives away who the original tenant was (i.e. Pizza Hut's trapezoidal windows, Wendy's roof line). Check out the pictures and see if you can guess who the original restaurant inhabitant was---answers are at the bottom of the page. Let me know how many you get correct!
#1
#1 - Originally a Burger King - now a car dealership
#2 - Originally a KFC - was most recently a Mexican bakery
#3 - Originally a Kenny Roger's Roaster - now a Mexican restaurant
#4 - Originally a Baskin-Robbins - now an insurance agency
#5 - Originally a McDonald's - now a barbecue restaurant
#6 - Originally a Wendy's - now a Hispanic restaurant
#7 - Originally a Dunkin' Donuts (70's-style) - now a diner
#8 - Originally a Shakey's Pizza - now a pawn shop
#9 - Originally a Perkin's - now Piedmont Family Restaurant
#10 - Originally a Pizza Hut - now a Chinese restaurant
#11 - Originally a Schlotzsky's Deli - now a Dunkin' Donuts
I only got four right. Rats. Though I was close about number five.
ReplyDeleteDoh! I should have gotten number 5 -- the door handles and the 3rd door to the right should have clued me in.
ReplyDeleteOh well.
This was fun, Pat! I'm going to have to find some similar stores to keep this game going.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Kenny Roger's Roaster originally Po' Folks???
ReplyDeleteI believe Kenny Rogers was next to the Po' Folks which should be #8.
ReplyDeleteI love the restaurant conversion phenomenon...fun to tell people what it USED to be. The thing I like the most is when a popular restaurant chain takes one of these places and converts it into something new like Moe's SW Grill does. I've seen a Moe's in all sorts of former places such as an old KFC and Arby's. Starbucks is good about that, too. I've seen them in an old mid-century bank. I once worked in a Subway that opened as Jacks Hamburgers (still exists in AL).
ReplyDeleteJust stumbled onto your blog and I have to say I was proud to get 9 of the 11. One thing to mention though, the last picture of the Dunkin' Doughnuts has a more varied history. It actually was a Mr. Hero between the Schlotzsky's and the Dunkin' Doughnuts, and I even think it was another restaurant incarnation as well somewhere in between them. Even stranger to note, it originally was a Bank!
ReplyDeleteOriginally, The dunkin Donuts (#11) was a bank building..believe it or not!
ReplyDeleteDitto that last comment . . . It was a First Union. If you look under the DD signage, you can see the signs of a 1970s-vintage First Union.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago #6 was an Arthur Treachers Fish and Chips.
ReplyDelete