17 Comments

Will mention in my next newsletter. Thanks!

Expand full comment

I got to get down to that last Sam Goody before it closes.

Expand full comment

Same!

Expand full comment

Better hurry. Most of the good stuff is already gone.

Expand full comment

Glad to see some Big Lots hanging on, the best place for stocking stuffers! Hopefully next year will be a bit brighter.

Expand full comment

Yes! A very useful chain -- the idea of it going down completely surprised me so was happy to hear about the reprieve!

Expand full comment

So enjoying The Retrologist! Happy New Year and lets hope for happy news!

Expand full comment

Yeah! And so great to see you here Marty!!

Expand full comment

It seems like a lot of "legacy" bone-in chicken chains are experimenting with chicken tender restaurants, probably to go after the success of Chick-fil-A, Zaxby's, Raising Cane's, Guthrie's (who was doing it before anyone else), and others.

Bojangles' has opened a lot of new chicken tender-only restaurants.

I'm wondering if this is a way to unload a lot of costs relating to preparing bone-in chicken and have an easier to prepare, more consistent product.

Expand full comment

Very interesting theory! Not to mention America is having a chicken tender moment -- everyone's looking at Raising Cane and saying, "Hey, I want a piece of that!"

Expand full comment

We came THAT CLOSE to losing the Fox theater in ATL in the late 70s. We managed to convince Southern Bell that they didn't need a Peachtree address, and they built their skyscraper (which AT&T has since vacated) a block back on West Peachtree.

I think the suspicious fire that destroyed the Loews Grand theater (where Ga. Pacific now has their skyscraper) led people to realize that these buildings are valuable, and once gone, they're gone forever.

A pox on all of these people who think 1950s-1970s restaurants are tacky and should be razed or remodeled into boringness.

Both theaters were a throwback to when movie companies had their own theater circuits, before SCOTUS ruled that movie studios couldn't own their own theaters due to antitrust. Loews was the owner of MGM; many old MGM movies mention Loews as MGM's parent.

Expand full comment

Play it pretty for Atlanta.

Expand full comment

GREAT context and interesting about Southern Bell backstory! And indeed, once something is gone, it's GONE! The battle is that more recent stuff people still take for granted and the battle is not going well!

Expand full comment

Club Cafe—say it ain’t so. The most intimate venue in Pittsburgh.

In semi-related news, in a few months Wagner Moura is supposed to start shooting his movie of my novel, Last Night at the Lobster, about a Red Lobster in New Britain closing just before Christmas. Elisabeth Moss and Brian Tyree Henry attached to co-star.

Expand full comment

Holy moly! I would love to write about this for a future newsletter, Stewart. I'll read the book too!

Expand full comment

Thanks—it’s a quick one. Hope you like it.

Expand full comment