Five Two Kitchen, 80 Powe Street: December 2024 (2025/03/29)

Five Two Kitchen was a restaurant that served Japanese and Chinese food. It was located where Brady's Restaurant used to be.

As for the closing date of December 2024, I'm pretty sure Five Two Kitchen was out of business by the end of the year. The most recent social media post of theirs that I could find was from November, and I recall hearing around that time that they had closed.

As shown in one of the pictures, the building is now for rent. It will be interesting to see what follows.

Coach's Neighborhood Grill, 973 Chesterfield Highway: January 2025 (2025/03/03)

Coach's Neighborhood Grill is a regional restaurant chain that offers food similar to what you might find at an Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday, O'Charley's, etc. This location opened a couple of years after Fatz Cafe had closed. As my daughter recently observed when I told her that Coach's was closed, it seems this location may be "cursed".

The few times I ate at Coach's, I thought the food was fine, although I figured out that the sandwiches were better than the main entrees. I recall ordering their grilled chicken breast entree once and receiving a portion of meat that was greatly disproportional to the cost of the meal...and no, I don't mean that in the vein of, "Wow! Look at how much I got for just this little money!" but more like, "Wow...that's it...ok then..."

According to a number of reviews I have read online and my own experiences, this Coach's likely failed due to being perpetually understaffed, which led to long waits for service...which led to poor reviews. I recall going to Coach's on a weekday evening last year and walking inside to what seemed to be an empty restaurant. The lights were on. We could hear some banging around in the kitchen so we assume that one or more employees were there. There was no host(ess) up front, and we stood for about 5 minutes before walking out. There was still one hour left, at least, before the restaurant closed. There was at least one car, if not two, in the parking lot, and having not seen any customers, I assumed that (1) there were employees present and (2) the restaurant was open.

I cannot say that I had ever walked into a restaurant before only to wonder if I was breaking and entering!

The Peach Cobbler Factory, 156 Market Street: February 2025 (2025/02/27)

The Peach Cobbler Factory in Cheraw was part of a chain of baked goods stores that offered "warm, delicious cobblers with ice cream, banana puddings, savory, sweet cinnamon rolls, Pudd-N Shakes, Bigger & Better Cookies, Bigger & Better Brownies, Churro Stix w/Dipping Sauces, Belgian Waffles, and more!" Looking at their site, there is another store close by in Florence.

I'm thinking that The Peach Cobbler Factory in Cheraw was opened in late 2023. It took up the left half of what used to be the old Wannamaker Drug location; the other half is currently used by Mel's on Market, which uses the old 154 Market Street address that Wannamaker Drug used. Before the building(s) was sold, a wall was built in between. I suppose it was easier to sell the building(s) as two separate locations than one.

I remember speaking with the owner of this The Peach Cobbler Factory location once or twice and recall her being excited to have opened this location in Cheraw, as I think she was from here. It's unfortunate that it didn't pan out, and I hope her future endeavors will be more successful.