The full-service restaurant at the Mall at Steamtown will reopen soon as an independent operation.
Hurricane Grill and Wings closed recently at the main entrance to the mall from Lackawanna Avenue and the establishment will resurface within days as Steamtown Pub and Grill.
"It's a local name and a local theme," said Achyut "Eddie" Dalsania, who operated the Hurricane franchise and will run its successor.
Workers this week changed the restaurant and bar's décor to reflect the region's mining and railroad legacy and the establishment will highlight American food, Mr. Dalsania said. It also will have an arcade area.
Hurricane Grill opened at the mall in January 2011 in a spot occupied by the Ground Round from 1993 until its closing in 2009.
The Florida-based franchise, though, has no other operations in Pennsylvania and had no marketing budget for the region, Mr. Dalsania said, so he and the chain parted company.
"We had a mutual understanding and we got out," said Mr. Dalsania, who also operates fast-food franchises in the food courts at the Steamtown and Viewmont malls.
The mall restaurant's alteration is among several downtown retail rearrangements.
Also along Lackawanna Avenue, a joint-venture convenience store and coffee shop is expected to open this weekend at the site of a former church.
The Corner Store and Express Go Coffee Shop will open at 534 Lackawanna Ave., which had housed City Lights Church from the summer of 2010 until its relocation to North Scranton last spring.
"This area needed something like this," said Paul Siguenza, a partner in the convenience store with Giovanni Piccolino, who operates Buona Pizza at 504 Lackawanna.
The shop will sell snacks, beer, soft drinks, tobacco products and household items. It will fill a void in the business district, Mr. Piccolino said.
Their partner, Keri Dellasala, will operate the coffee shop. She said it will sell low-acid coffee, breakfast items, pastries, sandwiches and soups.
"I'm thrilled to have them," said Tom Moran, who owns the building and operates Coney Island of Scranton on Cedar Avenue.
A late-night downtown stop will re-emerge soon at a new location, with a new name.
Stinky's closed recently at 628 Spruce St., and owner Rob Ely plans to open Insomnia Cafe over the next month along the 300 block of Adams Avenue.
"This is a better spot," Mr. Ely said. "I'm going to capitalize on this."
Insomnia will be open from 4 p.m. to midnight during the week and from noon to 3 a.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, he said.
The cafe will highlight comfort food, including Mr. Ely's celebrated hot-air-cooked french fries, along with chicken dishes, pizza and sandwiches.
Nearly a year after a popular convenience store's closing, the spot appears headed for non-retail use.
A construction permit posted on the door of the former Speedy Shop in the Jermyn Apartments building says it will be redeveloped for office use.
The Speedy Shop operated for more than 25 years at Wyoming Avenue and Spruce Street before closing abruptly in May. Efforts to reach Joseph Ferrario, whose family owns the Jermyn, were unsuccessful.
Also this week, a high-end shoe store relocated from the Mercantile Building in the 100 block of Penn Avenue to Moosic. Well Heeled, which opened in the summer of 2010, has ceased downtown operations and is doing business at 4828 Birney Ave., owner Calla Kafulich said.
"It was too expensive downtown and the parking was ridiculous," she said.
Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com