I've never seen this before -- local McDonald's just closes outright

[Donnachaidh]

It may seem trivial -- but in my area the only places that seemed to have business lately were MickeyD's. All the other fast food places always seemed to be empty in comparison.

Our local one was family-owned, and had been there for decades. And suddenly they are no more. It just seems beyond strange to see this business close. It withstood everyone else's closings.

Wow.

[Broderick]

1. Many are shutting down temporarily

And rebuilding new buildings. Seen quite a few around here shut down, get torn down. Then they rebuild later on and it goes up quick when they do.

[CleanGreenFuture]

7. If it was doing good business before it closed, your guess is the most likely scenario.

I've actually installed kitchen equipment in many McD's and you're right, they go up quick. We had one day to install the entire kitchen, including ventilators, racks, walk-ins, etc.

[ZombieHorde]

2. Maybe they failed a health inspection in a really big way. nt

[Donnachaidh]

6. I don't think so.

It's strange to wish a health violation on them, huh? But there is no notices posted about new buildings, or we'll be back -- just closed.

:shrug:

[ZombieHorde]

10. I am not wishing anything. I just thought of one possibility and shared. nt

[Donnachaidh]

14. not accusing hun -- this is such a local landmark

People always gave directions and noted this McD's and the Hooters across the street lol!

[ZombieHorde]

16. Oh, OK. nt

[FreeJoe]

17. The whole thought of McDonald's...

...and health inspections seems kind of amusing. I guess the inspections are about sanitation and not the actual healthiness of the food.

[CleanGreenFuture]

3. Was it usually busy, right up until it closed?

[Donnachaidh]

9. well, they had regular traffic compared to everyone else.

Lots of drive-thru stuff. Compared to the two other restaurants nearby they *were* busy.

It's weird.

[Shagbark Hickory]

4. Probably the remodel. Where is it?

[Donnachaidh]

13. suburb of Atlanta north. n/t

[wilt the stilt]

20. I live up here which one?

Norcross?

[Donnachaidh]

21. Marietta. n/t

[Shagbark Hickory]

22. Well if it's anything like the rest of the metro, they're probably doing the facelift. nm

[Donnachaidh]

28. nope -- they had a sign sayiing thanks for the 36 years of service

they are closed.

[Shagbark Hickory]

31. Oh. Well w'uncha say that before!?

[Donnachaidh]

33. Didn't know it -- DH just mentioned it now.

:shrug:

[Shagbark Hickory]

39. My guess is the Hamburglar was getting to them.

[Donnachaidh]

45. or having to clean the grease traps

That was my only complaint about living near them -- the smell was gawdawful!

[Shagbark Hickory]

47. More than likely they were not able to sell enough 99c burgers to pay the rising cost of health in-

surance, and other costs that have escalated recently.

Especially with the increased awareness of healthier eating.

[wilt the stilt]

35. I actually sat down witha corp. representative

of Mcdonalds once and he said more are in trouble than you think and a lot of times they prop them up. Probably this was one they didn't want tp prop up.

[RebelOne]

27. I am in Woodstock just down the road from Marietta.

And the local CVS on Highway 92 closed overnight. It was open last week, and yesterday I went there and it was all dark and the CVS sign was gone. I hope it is just for remodeling. But, we'll see.

[Shagbark Hickory]

32. MEawhile overnight 1,000 more walgreens and riteaids and bank branches popped up

I don't get it.

[emilyg]

46. I'm seeing a lot of

that in Decatur. Places just close overnight.

[meegbear]

5. I have; a McDonalds in Lynn MA closed in the early 80s, in the downtown district ...

HAH!

[RKP5637]

8. I've seen them do that around here to build a new one in its place, same business. n/t

[Donnachaidh]

11. wouldn't they at least post some sort of notice of that?

they didn't post diddley here. :shrug:

[snooper2]

18. It's a McDonalds lol

[xmas74]

41. They didn't originally post here

when it happened. It wasn't until the building equipment came along that they made a big deal about it.

[RKP5637]

44. I would think so. The ones I've seen around here I did not go to, but just noticed

one day they were doing business and the next day they were rebuilding it. It's always possible the one you saw maybe closed because they ran into financial problems and McDonald's yanked their franchise, something like that. Also, maybe a death in the family, a key player. I've seen a number of places here (other businesses) just suddenly close, just gone, just like that.

[bcool]

12. Are they remodeling?

Are you sure they're not just closing to build a new one? Several here in St Louis have done just that - completely shut down, tore the old building down, and built a new one.

I wonder what they do with the employees in the interim - lay them off, then call them back - or do they just rehire everyone?

[targetpractice]

15. McDonalds will remodel 2000 of it's 32,500 restaurants this year...

http://www.burgerbusiness.com/?p=4559

[littlewolf]

19. in one of the busier malls .. McD's just upped and closed

its restaurant in the food court ... and their was always a line to get "food' there .....

[Shagbark Hickory]

23. "lol"

[Speck Tater]

24. Somebody lost the keys to the building and they're all running around looking under couch cushions.

[tabbycat31]

25. Maybe employees voted to unionize

And this was their response.

[WCGreen]

26. A lot of franchisees are under pressure to accept new deals

on how the profits are divied.

Most times the franchisee goes along with the change.

But some times, the person who owns the franchise just decides not to fight the corporation and just shuts down to stop their loss.

[Donnachaidh]

29. UPDATE -- they ARE closed. DH just reported to me.

They had a sign stating *Thank you for 36 years of business*.

[ikri]

42. 36 Years in a franchise

Sounds like the owner(s) retired & either didn't look for someone to buy them out or couldn't find anyone to do so.

Strange though, if they were busy & profitable (36 years of business should mean consistent profits) I'd have thought that someone would have purchased the franchise from them.

[Recursion]

49. Or the refranchiser wanted to put it up somewhere else

McDonalds is notorious for not geographically restricting its franchisees.

[fishbulb703]

30. Maybe the owners retired.

[Shagbark Hickory]

34. Maybe they were overwhelmed with guilt.

[katnapped]

36. Rare, but does happen n/t

[raccoon]

37. A local mom-and-pop, meat & 3 type restaurant closed in my area. It had been

around for decades, so I don't know what the deal was.

I know times are hard--everyone except Congress and the President, I guess, knows that--but as I said, this
place had been here for decades.

[EC]

38. If they have been there forever and it's a local owner

maybe he retired and the kids don't want to do it? That happens alot with older family owned businesses.

[xmas74]

40. Maybe the family sold and it's now becoming

corporate? Ours did that quite a few years ago and within a few months shut down and rebuilt. Our local Dairy Queen did the same about four years ago. The family here refused to pay franchising so corporate came in and built a new one.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

43. We had a KFC do that a month or so ago...

now the grass is a foot high, no-one is even keeping it mowed.

[bluestate10]

48. I saw that happen twice in the same general region, a decade ago.

The area was in a massive economic downturn. The Mickey D's never came back, but they have been replaced by a new one in another part of the region and by several higher end fast food shops, some mom and pop. Change happens during economic downturns, companies that are managed well persevere.

[Gemini Cat]

50. In the small city I live in, two Pizza Huts and one Domino's,

and a couple of Quiznos have closed.
There have been numerous other small diners closed as well.

"Wow" is right.