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Over the years , i've noticed more and more chain restaurants just seem to be disappearing around Greensboro, while still having presence in other NC cities and other states. At first I just thought, oh these companies must have just gone out of business nationally, but i'd keep seeing ads on cable tv for some of these places.
Baja Fresh, Pizza Inn, The Sizzler, Shoney's (1 left by the airport), Dairy Queen full serve, Long John Silvers, Fatz, Ham's Lakeside, Winn Dixie, Bi-Lo, Kroger, Abandoned gas stations ... the list goes on and on....
It just seems so strange that these bigger national /regional companies wouldn't do well here given the size of the city, but would do well in Winston, in the case of Long John Silvers, being 3 locations there.
I'm also seeing more and more strip mall type shopping places taking downgrade tenants with Cash 4 gold places, smoke shops, Nail salons, cheapo mattresses, ink cartridge refill, etc.
Seems like we are being inundated with them . Thank God something was done to keep GSO from turning into a Sweepstakes mecca.
I realize we've recently had a kind of bad economy and a lot of chain businesses are scaling back, but I cant help but wonder what causes them to pull up shop here in gso? Cost of doing business here? Shopping migration patterns? People get tired of the same old places?
Just an observation, not that I love fast food so much, it just kind makes me wonder why GSO isn't good enough for these companies to maintain a presence here.
Last edited by Midwest1960; 05-15-2014 at 10:07 AM..
Can't really speak for most of those, but Winn Dixie closed just about all their stores everywhere. The only locations I've seen are in FL. Shoney's has also scaled back quite a bit too.
A lot of the chains you listed have closed locations in many cities. Winn Dixie filed for Chapter 11 in 2005 and closed 482 stores, including all NC stores. BI-LO filed for Chapter 11 in 2009 and closed many stores. Sizzler filed for Chapter 11 in 1996 and closed half its stores. Shoney's went from 1300 stores in 1998 down to 282 in 2007 due to bankruptcy. Harris Teeter bought all GSO Kroger locations in 1999. I see empty Dairy Queens locations all over the place due to (I think) not remaining competitive with more modern fast food restaurant concepts.
None of this is unique to Greensboro. I'm not sure about some of the other businesses you listed, but they come and go based on success in every city so I'm sure there are distinct reasons for the closings.
A lot of the chains you listed have closed locations in many cities. Winn Dixie filed for Chapter 11 in 2005 and closed 482 stores, including all NC stores. BI-LO filed for Chapter 11 in 2009 and closed many stores. Sizzler filed for Chapter 11 in 1996 and closed half its stores. Shoney's went from 1300 stores in 1998 down to 282 in 2007 due to bankruptcy. Harris Teeter bought all GSO Kroger locations in 1999. I see empty Dairy Queens locations all over the place due to (I think) not remaining competitive with more modern fast food restaurant concepts.
None of this is unique to Greensboro. I'm not sure about some of the other businesses you listed, but they come and go based on success in every city so I'm sure there are distinct reasons for the closings.
Very interesting JoeTarheel. I wasn't aware so many of these 'still in business' chains cut back THAT much.
Bi-Lo and Winn Dixie were 2 of my favorite grocery stores to shop at.
Very interesting JoeTarheel. I wasn't aware so many of these 'still in business' chains cut back THAT much.
Bi-Lo and Winn Dixie were 2 of my favorite grocery stores to shop at.
I knew all of the Winn Dixie's in Atlanta closed a few years back, and the BI-LO in Clemmons where my parents live closed in 2009. I just looked up a few of them when I read your comments to see what exactly had happened to these companies. I didn't have all that data in my head.
Over the years , i've noticed more and more chain restaurants just seem to be disappearing around Greensboro, while still having presence in other NC cities and other states. At first I just thought, oh these companies must have just gone out of business nationally, but i'd keep seeing ads on cable tv for some of these places.
Baja Fresh, Pizza Inn, The Sizzler, Shoney's (1 left by the airport), Dairy Queen full serve, Long John Silvers, Fatz, Ham's Lakeside, Winn Dixie, Bi-Lo, Kroger, Abandoned gas stations ... the list goes on and on....
It just seems so strange that these bigger national /regional companies wouldn't do well here given the size of the city, but would do well in Winston, in the case of Long John Silvers, being 3 locations there.
I'm also seeing more and more strip mall type shopping places taking downgrade tenants with Cash 4 gold places, smoke shops, Nail salons, cheapo mattresses, ink cartridge refill, etc.
Seems like we are being inundated with them . Thank God something was done to keep GSO from turning into a Sweepstakes mecca.
I realize we've recently had a kind of bad economy and a lot of chain businesses are scaling back, but I cant help but wonder what causes them to pull up shop here in gso? Cost of doing business here? Shopping migration patterns? People get tired of the same old places?
Just an observation, not that I love fast food so much, it just kind makes me wonder why GSO isn't good enough for these companies to maintain a presence here.
The Kroger deal was a store swap, Teeter & Kroger traded under performing stores for the others in their respective territory. Now that's moot since Kroger has purchased Harris Teeter.
As for Ham's Lakeside it was my understanding a lease could not be negotiated closing that location. Ham's came out even since they opened the Elm St location.
On the other hand I see a lot of independents opening and making a go of it.
I have no idea what gas stations you are talking about.
The Kroger deal was a store swap, Teeter & Kroger traded under performing stores for the others in their respective territory. Now that's moot since Kroger has purchased Harris Teeter.
As for Ham's Lakeside it was my understanding a lease could not be negotiated closing that location. Ham's came out even since they opened the Elm St location.
On the other hand I see a lot of independents opening and making a go of it.
I have no idea what gas stations you are talking about.
There are 3 gas stations on battleground that are closed down. The Citgo across from Applebees, A BP across from Wendys looked like the were tearing it down and the one across from the old Cellar Antons, which also went out of business. For as busy as Battleground is, its hard to imagine gas stations going out of business, but an over saturation of oil change places are booming. Perhaps Sheetz put them all out of business?
Additionally, I spotted a closed station on the corner of Holden and Spring Garden across from the old JP looneys. I think its a Shell station.
I drive around a lot for my job on all sides of town and just notice the overall state of decline around the city.
I understand each business has its own reasons to be or not be here, but all the boarded up buildings and rundown strip malls really stand out in contrast to the Greensboro of say 25 years ago to me. However, if you mostly spent a large amount of your time in the NW side of town, it wouldn't seem as apparent.
Last edited by Midwest1960; 05-18-2014 at 04:13 PM..
My job is directly related to convenience stores. What you see is not all that unusual; some stores can change hands multiple times in one year. Sometimes they close, other times the change goes seamlessly.
The BP across the street from Wendy's lost the canopy from the last snow/ice storm. The BP across from Antons did close most likely being due to Sheetz opening down the street. Sheetz is setting a new standard for convenience stores and the old, dinky, dirty, dank, stores like the BP across from Antons is no longer going to cut it IMO. This is evident by the Family Fare and Circle K chains rebuilding or remodeling many of their Triad locations over the last few years. Kangaroo has been following suit as well.
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