Lexington restaurant closes after 44 years at high-profile location. See historic photos
By Janet Patton and
Brian Simms
A Lexington restaurant that’s been serving the meats for decades is gone.
The Arby’s at 3261 Nicholasville Rd. closed its doors on Saturday and workers with Whittaker Enterprises were pulling off the signage on Monday.
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The roast beef fast-food restaurant opened in 1980 at the intersection of Nicholasville and Reynolds Road in a high-profile corner between Fayette Mall and what is now Lexington Green, which it pre-dates.
At the time, Fayette Mall had been open for less than a decade; the mall was built in 1971.
Other stores have been built up around the location, including Lexington Green, which was built in 1987.
Workers with Whittaker Enterprises removed signage including the drive-thru menu at the Arby’s restaurant at 3261 Nicholasville Rd. Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 in Lexington, Ky. The fast-food restaurant opened at the high-profile intersection of Nicholasville and Reynolds Road in 1980. Brian Simms bsimms@herald-leader.com
Workers with Whittaker Enterprises take down signage at the Arby’s restaurant at 3261 Nicholasville Rd. Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 in Lexington, Ky. The fast-food restaurant opened at the high-profile intersection of Nicholasville and Reynolds Road in 1980. Brian Simms bsimms@herald-leader.com
The building, which has a drive-thru, has been remodeled many times in the intervening years but the quick-service chain apparently has decided to close this location permanently, although the company website still lists the location as active.
Arby’s, 3261 Nicholasville Road. in January 2019. Ron Garrison 2019 Herald-Leader staff file photo
Workers with Whittaker Enterprises take down signage and removed furnishings at the Arby’s restaurant at 3261 Nicholasville Rd. Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 in Lexington, Ky. The fast-food restaurant opened at the high-profile intersection of Nicholasville and Reynolds Road in 1980. Brian Simms bsimms@herald-leader.com
Arby’s, whose slogan is “We Have the Meats,” did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A newer Arby’s opened down the road at 4093 Lexington Rd. at Brannon Crossing in Nicholasville, south of Lexington.
No information was immediately available on what might be going into the spot, which is located near First Watch, a popular breakfast restaurant.
Fayette Mall, Nicholasville Road Arby’s history
Aerial view, looking towards the west, taken Friday, March 29, 2002 in Lexington. In the lower left at the intersection of Nicholasville and Reynolds Roads is an Arby’s restaurant that has been at that location since 1980. Just above it is part of Fayette Mall, specifically Lazarus department store, and on the other side of Reynolds Road, Target and Lexington Green shopping center. In middle is Lexington Christian Academy and in middle at right is Meijer’s. Above LCA is part of an undeveloped area that would become Wellington Elementary School. The round-a-bout on Reynolds Road and Wellington Way can be seen just before the development of homes. Frank Anderson 2002 Herald-Leader staff file photo
Aerial view of future Fayette Mall site January 19, 1967. Sixty acres of this land with frontage on Nicholasville Road, left, and Reynolds Road, near the bottom of the photo, was the John Shillito Company’s selection for the site of its first Kentucky department store. And in 1971, Fayette Mall was built. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
South Park Shopping Center, July 1979, at the intersection of Nicholasvile and New Cirlce Roads in Lexington, Ky. The Hills department store has been succeeded by Academy Sports + Outdoors. Allied Sporting Goods, C&H Rauch Jewelers and a Kroger grocery store also were in the shopping center in 1979, a year before Arby’s opened across the street. David Perry 1979 Herald-Leader staff file photo
An aerial view of Fayette Mall, May 13, 1985. Nicholasville Road runs from left to right across the bottom. It intersects with Reynolds Road, running top to bottom on the right side of the image (cropped out). Near there is where the longtime Arby’s location is. The left side of the mall at this time was a Sears store, one of the anchors of the shopping center. In May 1993, the mall expanded, adding nearly two dozen merchants in a new south wing, in the area to the left of Sears in the picture. The expansion made it the Kentucky’s largest mall. In 2006, The Plaza at Fayette Mall, a shopping center with a Cinemark Theatres and restaurants, opened in the area on the far left side of the photo. Across the top of the picture is Shillito Park. The park’s pool, which opened in the summer of 1988, is located just to the left of the curve in the road. Nick Nickerson 1985 Herald-Leader staff file photo
Janet Patton covers restaurants, bars, food and bourbon for the Herald-Leader. She is an award-winning business reporter who also has covered agriculture, gambling, horses and hemp.Support my work with a digital subscription
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