Charleys Restaurant in Cotswold to close March 19

Charleys Restaurant, a cornerstone in the firmament of Cotswold Village Shops, 274 S. Sharon Amity Road, will open its doors for the last time to diners on March 19. Servers have been spreading the news unofficially to diners for weeks, but a manager confirmed the news to South Charlotte Weekly. “March 19 will be our last day,” said the manager, who asked to remain anonymous. “We hate it, but due to the economic situation and our majority owners wanting to retire, they came down to that decision.” The manager had “no clue” what would happen to the space.

Charleys Restaurant is owned by Charlottesville, Va.-based Prima, Inc., which also owns Trio Restaurant near Carmel Road. Charleys opened in SouthPark mall in April 1985, as part of a nine-restaurant chain in North Carolina and Virginia. In 1986, investors established Prima, Inc. and purchased the SouthPark Charleys before building Trio, which opened in 1992. Charleys moved from SouthPark to Cotswold in January 2001 when SouthPark mall began its extensive expansion and renovation project.