VALDOSTA — The last day of the year is also the last day customers can “Eat Mor Chikin” in the Valdosta Mall.

The Chick-fil-A restaurant at the mall is scheduled to close Saturday, Dec. 31. The announcement was posted to the restaurant’s Facebook page and confirmed by a store employee.

The chicken sandwich stop was one of the Mall’s opening-day retailers in 1983.

The Chick-fil-A chain was founded in 1961 by Truett Cathy, who had already been in the restaurant business for 15 years. The chain is famous for its advertising campaign featuring cows — the “suppliers” for the chain’s hamburger competition — carrying badly spelled signs begging “Eat Mor Chikin.”

The Chick-fil-A closure is the latest in a string of store losses at the Valdosta Mall. Bed, Bath and Beyond put up “store closing” signs at its mall site in early December, while Kay Jewelers moved from the Valdosta Mall to a new location nearby in July.

At the same time, recent opening announcements at the mall include two eateries, Fin and Feathers and Bossa Novas.

Meanwhile, there are other Chick-fil-A locations in Lowndes County that remain open, including a store at 1100 St. Augustine Road (across from the Valdosta Mall) and a Chick-fil-A Express in Valdosta State University’s Student Union building, as well as a store in Lake Park. Another Chick-fil-A site at 3147 Inner Perimeter Road is temporarily closed for remodeling.