Rountree eatery Skully’s announces coming closure, hints at new venture in same spot

The Rountree eatery Skully’s has announced its pending closure in a post on social media.

The last day of service for the restaurant – located in the Pickwick Avenue and Cherry Street commercial hub – is scheduled for Feb. 6, the post states.

“After almost 10 years of doing this dang thing, we’re finally hanging up our ramen ladle,” the post on Facebook states. “To all of our loyal customers over the last decade – we can’t thank you enough. You gave us a reason to come in every day, cook pork bones for 22 hours and slosh around noodle water with a smile (and sometimes a grimace) on our faces. Your support built this place.”

The post – which went up just after midnight Jan. 14 – adds that the owners are working on a new venture in the same location.

“If all goes well, you’ll be seeing something brand new for us around March,” the post states. “We’ll also be doing the occasional pop-up here and there.”

The post thanks employees, past and present, for creating something special.

“We’ll always be proud of what we did together,” it says.

The post does not explain why the restaurant is closing.

“There are a lot of reasons behind this decision, but we’re choosing not to dwell on them,” it says. “Instead, we’re focusing forward.”

In Springfield Business Journal reporting in 2021, Skully’s owners, the wife-and-husband team of Lora and Joe Still, responded to an internet controversy about the shop’s display of a pride flag. A customer left a voicemail criticizing the restaurant’s support of a position she deemed “woke,” and Skully’s posted the call on Instagram.

Lora Still took the criticism in stride.

“We realized early on that the general public will have a lot of opinions about everything you do as a business,” she said in an interview. “When we know we are giving it our honest effort, criticism just holds less validity to us.”

She added that Skully’s welcomes all customers, but she emphasized that customers have a choice in where they do business.

“If you cannot be around anyone that has a different opinion than you … we might not be the restaurant for you,” she said.

In response to the criticism, customers rallied around Skully’s, with one online group hosting its first in-person meet-up at the site.

Skully’s is registered by the Missouri secretary of state’s office under Oomami LLC, formed in October 2016 by owners Joseph, Lora and Rebecca Still.

Skully’s has 5,500 followers on Facebook, many of them waking to the news of the planned closure. By 10 a.m., 31 of them had already weighed in with a comment. Multiple posters said they would miss the venue, and one user, Jessi Honeycutt, posted simply, “Thanks for all the yums!!!”