The Sad Truth about Struts' Sudden Closure

 

The Shoals has seen some eateries come and go quickly, but Struts on Pine Street in Florence has to win the prize for brevity. Just what precipitated this gigantic fail after only two weeks?

Previously: Struts Goes Lame

Since the demise of Struts, we've had several readers lament the parking situation on the corner of Pine. While that may have been a problem, especially during the lunch rush, a dearth of spaces played only a minuscule part in the restaurant's closure.

The driving force behind the demise of the wings restaurant seems to be the owner himself. Pictured below is owner Todd Wheeler:

According to an inside source, Wheeler had problems from the beginning:

After all the remodels, Todd Wheeler, started running out of money so they (Tim Rhodes Properties) fronted him some money by buying the kitchen appliances and all of the food overhead. Then he was hit with some up front costs (around $25,000 but I’m not sure from where) and he thought that if he went ahead and opened and acted like everything was okay that he could make some money to pay that off plus some but he was greatly mistaken. So at the last second he told the GM what was going on and made whoever that was give the bad news to everyone. He also gave up his rights to the franchise completely. So now Tim Rhodes Properties is stuck with a completed restaurant that ended up being, and I quote, “the worst business deal they’ve ever been apart of” now they are looking for someone who would like to run/own a restaurant that is ready to go. The only thing I’m not sure of is if he actually went back to Hawaii or not yet or if he’s going to.

However, all is not lost. We understand that former Struts employee Matthew Cox is opening an eatery in that location called Cypress Row. We look forward to trying it, as well as reviews from our readers.

Struts on Pine Goes Lame

 

It opened on August 17th; 15 days later it closed. Those who visited the wings eatery during the two weeks the store was open had some very harsh reviews. What happened?

One might call Struts a small regional franchise. There are currently locations in Oxford and Jacksonville, Alabama. The Florence store was the third franchise...while it lasted.

The unique corner building at 116 South Pine Street was constructed in 1940, and most locals remember it best for housing the ComCast office for many years. The last several years the building had been under a slow renovation, and we had heard it was to be a music hall. Things change.

On August 17th, Todd Wheeler held a grand opening for his new eatery. Things went down hill from there. While there were a few accolades for Struts, 90% of the comments on Facebook or Yelp were negative.

* Waitresses were found crying in the ladies' room.

* Managers hid in the back of the house, doing nothing to help solve problems.

* Decor was mainly plain brick walls.

* Food was only so-so, with one patron alleging it gave her a tapeworm. We'll take that comment as some misplaced anger for wasting time in the restaurant.

If there were any positives, the food was reasonably priced. Then again, so is Ol' Roy if all you're looking for is a bargain.

Diners who attempted to enter Struts on September 1st were met with a locked entrance and a sign suggesting staffing problems. Two days later, the eatery's Facebook and Instagram pages had been shut down.

An acquaintance told us to go straight to VooDoo Wings farther north on Pine Street for a great meal. Will we? Let's just say Champy's needs to buy this restaurant and show the downtown area what great chicken is.