Friday, January 16, 2015

Pizza Hut Takes A Hike From The Westside

The former Pizza Hut on Collier Road now stripped of its signage & branding 
Pizza Hut continues to ditch its "huts."

Pizza Hut has closed its freestanding location on Collier Road, one of the oldest in metro Atlanta.  

This location had been open for over 40 years, yet it had only ten yelp reviews with a whopping 1.5 stars.  By comparison, nearby Antico Pizza has been open since late 2009 and has over 1,750 yelp reviews with a 4.5 star rating. (For what it's worth, Yelp launched in 2004.)

The Collier Road Pizza Hut reportedly discontinued dine-in service over a year ago, and was only offering take-out and delivery.  

NPC International is the largest Pizza Hut franchisee in the country with some 1,250 locations in 28 states. While not owned by NPC International, Pizza Hut Collier Road's closure follows NPC moves across the country in closing / consolidating freestanding restaurants in favor of smaller, take out / delivery only locations.  

Among the local Pizza Huts that have converted from "huts" to inline locations are restaurants in Decatur, Tucker, Roswell, Buckhead, and Avondale on Memorial Drive, among others.  

In Decatur, the former Pizza Hut at 2641 North Decatur Road in an outparcel of Suburban Plaza today operates as Cozy Burger Town.  Sadly though, CBT will soon be demolished for a new Starbucks. Pizza Hut relocated to a smaller center at the corner of North Decatur Road and Church Street.  

In Tucker, Pizza Hut previously had an outparcel location in Briarcliff Village.  After moving to a small space less than a mile away, the old Hut was demolished and rebuilt as a Chipotle Mexican Grill. Pizza Hut relocated to small space about a half mile away on Henderson Mill Road, across from Northlake Mall.


In Roswell, (8514 Holcomb Bridge Road) the former Pizza Hut is today a Verizon Wireless.  


In Buckhead, (2608 Piedmont Road) the former Pizza Hut was demolished and rebuilt as a Chase Bank.


In Sandy Springs, (5670 Roswell Road) El Taco Veloz now occupies what is clearly a former Pizza Hut.  

Amazingly, a few Pizza Hut restaurants still exist in their original "hut," albeit remodeled, form. 

A standalone Pizza Hut continues to operate at Northeast Plaza on Buford Highway, as does another on Peachtree Industrial (Boulevard) in Chamblee.  

What has become of your local "hut?" What would you like to see open in the former Pizza Hut on Collier Road?  Among fast options like Papa John's, Domino's and Pizza Hut, which is your favorite? 

Please share your thoughts below 

14 comments:

Theron Sapp said...

Fond high school memories of the Pizza Hut at Suburban Plaza. The pizza seemed pretty good to us back then, but the whole enterprise lost its way, as you point out. Someday our grandkids will wonder why all these taco stands and pawn shops have such funny roofs.

fsg said...

There's a fun blog on UTBAPHs at http://usedtobeapizzahut.blogspot.com; the 99% Invisible podcast did a story on them a while back.

Sad to see the dine-in PHs fade out, but they do seem to hang on better in the smaller towns - we drive past one in Clayton headed for the mountains. Fewer pizza options there, I suppose.

Anonymous said...

The location in Chamblee on Peachtree Boulevard (the former name was Peachtree Industrial Blvd, but it has changed) is not really "dine-in" either. It only has perhaps one table for people waiting to pick up, not really for eating-in (according to the employees).

Anonymous said...

The Hut in Hapeville is still a Hut. The store even had a drive thru line at one time but it's blocked now. Very low volume store. I am surprised it hasn't closed.

Erik from the Burbs said...

Pizza Hut@Canton Road and Piedmont Road Marietta closed several years ago. Pizza Hut@Piedmont & Sandy Plains closed within last 2-3 years.
Back in 1985-1986, I was delivery driver for Pizza Hut when they started to get into delivery business. It was just Dominos and your local pizza places that delivered before Pizza Hut and Papa Johns came to Atlanta area.

G.G. said...

Used to Be a Pizza Hut really is an amazing site. It shows the amazing reach of Pizza Hut before they began scaling back. It seems that every community had one!

In the 1970s and 1980s, my local PH was the one on South Cobb near King Springs, presently home to an insurance agent.

Anonymous said...

The Collier Road Pizza Hut is in my neighborhood. While driving home Wednesday night, I noticed that the signage was gone. Thanks for sharing about the closure. I used to go to this location as a kid for the Book-It rewards.

We have a ton of pizza options in the Collier Road/Howell Mill Road area so it won't be missed. For cheap pizza, Fellini's on Howell Mill will always be my go-to.

Anonymous said...

Used to visit the Sandy Springs Hut in high school many, many moons ago. Always seemed darker inside at night than it was outside.

vespajet said...

There's still an old school Pizza Hut up in Dahlonega.

Carl said...

The only Hut I ever patronized (Corporate Blvd) is now Don Pollo.

ImAndy said...

There is still a hut further down Peachtree Industrial what is probably considered Norcross or Peachtree Corners across from the Market Place Shopping Center with Publix and Target. I'll admit that its been two years since I've been inside but they're still open and still had the buffet last I was there.

Anonymous said...

The Pizza Hut in Stockbridge has been replaced by a check cashing store.

Anonymous said...

I miss getting my free personal pan pizza in the late 80s each time the GT baseball team would score 10+ runs. I'd use the coupon at the Briarcliff Village location.

~mindspringyahoo

Anonymous said...

We still have a fully operational hut in Cumming, too.

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