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Bill’s Barbecue demolished, signs for sale

Posted at 11:45 AM, Oct 11, 2013
and last updated 2013-10-11 14:11:45-04

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – The Bill’s Barbecue on Boulevard near the Diamond in Richmond is now a pile of rubble. Demolition on that location of the iconic local restaurant began this week.

Bill's Barbecue (PHOTO: Christopher Grosvenor)

Bill’s Barbecue (PHOTO: Christopher Grosvenor)

CBS 6 Facebook friend Christopher Grosvenor snapped a photo of what’s left of the building.

Charles Metheny, with Metheny Contracting, said he expected the demolition project to be completed sometime next week.

In addition to tearing down the building, Metheny is also trying to sell the restaurant’s sign – which can be divided into three smaller signs.

“There’s a drive-thru sign, the pigs sign and the  big Bill’s Virginia Barbecue sign,” Metheny said.

The Varina native said even through he frequented Bill’s while cruising Broad Street in the 1980s, tearing down this location was just another job.

Harrison & Bates Chairman Emeritus Jeff Williams, who owns the Boulevard property, said he is talking to gas stations, drug stores and fast food restaurants about the land.

“I’m a believer in the North Boulevard corridor,” Williams said in a phone interview.

He added he was in negotiations with a region/national food chain over the Bill’s Barbecue at Libbie Ave. and Broad St. He suspected that property would be torn down and rebuilt next year.

At its height Bill’s Barbecue boasted 13 locations, Greg McQuade reported in 2012.  Five restaurants closed in April of that year to try to save the company, which began in Norfolk in 1930. The final three locations in Richmond closed in September 2012.

Shortly after its closing, Bill’s Barbecue President Rhoda Elliot appeared in a campaign video for then Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

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Anyone interested in purchasing the Bill’s Barbecue signs can contact Mitzi Wyatt-Jenkins at 804-338-4258.