Open for business: New shops, offices and eateries find home in Decatur as Milo's closes

Bayne Hughes, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
·3 min read

Nov. 17—Decatur continues to add new businesses, including a chicken wings restaurant, an oil-change center and an internal medicine office that have opened or plan to, but one fast-food restaurant closed recently.

David Harbison, who'll own the Buffalo Luke's franchise in Decatur, said he plans to open the wings, chicken tenders and hamburger restaurant Friday at 725 Beltline Road S.W. next to Alfonso's Pizza.

"We're still doing some training and we've got to get some equipment ready, but we're shooting for Friday," Harbison said.

Harbison's restaurant is the third location and first in Alabama for the Kennesaw, Georgia-based business. Buffalo Luke's is replacing Cheeseburger Bobby's, which closed last year at the Beltline location.

Harbison said his restaurant also will have grilled and fried chicken sandwiches and Philly cheesesteaks along with appetizers and sides like cheese sticks.

Harbison plans to sell beer but he's still going through the process of getting an alcohol license. His city license is up for approval by the City Council at the 10 a.m. meeting on Monday, and it would then go to the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control board.

"I would say it will be 30 days before we can start serving beer," Harbison said.

Two other businesses are opening on U.S. 31.

VIP Medical, an internal medicine office, will open soon in the Decatur Med-Surg building, south of Beltline.

Tropical Smoothie plans to locate in a small shopping center developed by Jeff Parker, of Parker Real Estate.

Parker said Monday that construction continues on a 5,400-square-foot retail building planned for 0.7 of an acre at 2127 Sixth Ave. S.E. where Cloverleaf Buick's parking lot once was. The building will have two or three retail spots that will depend on the build-outs' size that each business needs.

"Tropical Smoothie probably won't open until second quarter of next year based on where we are in construction," Parker said.

The city had several new businesses open recently.

—Valvoline Instant Oil Change opened Friday at 2605 U.S. 31 South.

—Bealls Outlet opened last Thursday in the Decatur Commons shopping center at 1605 Beltline Road S.W. This center is anchored by Publix.

—Crumbl Cookie opened Nov. 3 on 2804 Spring Avenue S.W. next to Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers.

—Crunch Fitness opened in October at 1419 Glenn Street S.W., next to Aldi grocery store.

—After closing in December 2021, Cook Out reopened Oct. 12 at 1654 Beltline Road S.W. adjacent to Krispy Kreme. Manager Vikki Liles said the restaurant closed because it needed a remodel "to bring a new look. We also want to get the business back in order the way we wanted."

The city also lost one business recently. Milo's closed its fast-food restaurant in front of Kroger's on Beltline Road last week.

Crystal Brown, president and chief executive officer, said the loss of Milo's is disappointing but it's not unusual to occasionally lose a business.

"We're getting a lot of inquiries and we still continue to see businesses opening," Brown said. "The word is out on Decatur. We've been named in several 'best places to live' articles. People know that we're close enough to almost everything and there's a lot of things to do here."

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.