Sign of the Times? Lots of Restaurants Closing in My Area
It seems like the current economic conditions are forcing restaurants in my area to close at a rapid pace. Almost every day I check my area dining websites, they are reporting on yet another restaurant establishment that has closed. Sometimes they are institutions that have been around for decades. What about everyone else? Are you experiencing alot of restaurant/bar closures in your areas?
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5 Comments:
Yup, especially here in SE Michigan where a lot of the work is an extension of the auto industry. When a plant closes, all the local dives, stores and grocers that supported the workers have an extremely difficult time staying open. Fast food and other minimum wage positions used to be easy to find. Now you're lucky to find anyone who's hiring and not laying people off. And the more upscale restaurants? If they only cut some of their open hours maybe they'll survive.
LunaPierCook at 5:43PM on 01/15/09
The restaurants I go to and those in my neighborhood don't appear to be hurting much.
The last 3 weekends, wait times were 2 hours at 5 p.m. These are not upscale restaurants, but rather inexpensive restaurants where platters are between $15 - 25. We end up going to upscale restaurants in jeans and a tshirt or to our weekday dives just to be squeezed in the back. The upscale places may not be that upscale for some folks but they are for us ($25 - 40/entree).
I remember saying out loud, the first time I was told the wait was 2 hours, "What f-ing economic downturn. Apparently Cleveland didn't get the memo."
Cassaendra at 7:53PM on 01/15/09
2 hours at 5 p.m. on a weekend? Boy, people certainly eat early there. Was it pre-sporting events or concerts or something? (I take it you're not an early-bird special sort of gal, which is fine with me.)
lemons at 8:54PM on 01/15/09
We've had a few things close around Houston lately, but nothing I miss (Good riddance, Bennigan's!) I noticed one local dive cut their hours way back, but I think that has more to do with the owner/manager being 80y/o than the economy b/c my favorite restaurant just expanded their hours to serve breakfast & I have to get there early to get my table on weekends. The economy is still pretty good here & is likely to remain at least decent, unless oil slides back down under $40/barrel & stays there long-term.
KitchenHawk at 10:55PM on 01/15/09
When I lived in FL, the downturn was most evidenced by the chains that were closing because people were thrown out of work. In ATL, there don't seem to be as many closures - and there are a great many independent restaurants.
therealchiffonade at 8:15PM on 01/16/09