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The Brief

Paula Deen’s flagship restaurant in Savannah, The Lady & Sons, closed without warning on July 31.

The closure also includes her nearby takeout spot, The Chicken Box.

Deen says her remaining restaurants in Tennessee, Missouri, and South Carolina will stay open.

One of Savannah’s most famous tourist stops and a key part of Paula Deen’s rise to fame is no longer serving Southern cooking.

Deen announced Friday that she and her sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen, had made the "heartfelt decision" to close The Lady & Sons — the restaurant they opened in downtown Savannah in 1996 — along with an adjacent takeout stand called The Chicken Box. The closures took place quietly at the end of service on July 31. No reason was given.

"Thank you for all the

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