The owners of Stoby’s, the popular Conway restaurant devastated by fire in March 2016, are shooting to reopen by July 21, the restaurant’s 37th anniversary, says Patti Stobaugh, co-owner with her husband, David Stobaugh.
The Stobaughs decided to raze the old, fire-damaged building and build a 4,000-SF new and improved Stoby’s at the same location, 805 Donaghey Ave.
The electrical wiring, HVAC and plumbing have been installed, and workers were shingling the new building last week.
The Stobaughs should be moving equipment in in early July.
“We don’t want to rush it and have a bad opening,” Patti Stobaugh said.
The restaurant’s new kitchen alone is bigger than the old Stoby’s, Patti said, and it should seat about 128 customers, in addition to those on the patio.
Speaking of the patio, it will be dog-friendly.
“We’re sticking with our old theme,” she said. “It will look very much like the old Stoby’s.”
After the fire, the Stobaughs opened Stoby’s Express at 1310 Prince St., offering strictly to-go service. They will probably close the Express for at least a couple of weeks while they’re getting the new Stoby’s up and running, Patti said. But not to fear, it will be reopened.
“It’s really been a hidden blessing that we would have never counted on or even really considered at this stage in our life,” she said of the Express location. “We’ve had so many people express that they want to keep that location open.”
Stoby’s Express has been so successful that the Stobaughs are considering opening a couple more outside of Conway, “but we’ve got to get Stoby’s up and running and get our sea legs underneath us before we do that.”