going...going...

[acroyear]

Remember when I complained about having a "get extra miles" promotion on my credit card, but it was for Bennigans and Steak and Ale, neither of which exist in the DC area in a significant quantity to make it worth it as all of the stores I know of except 1 (Seven Corners) had closed down?

Well...

Bennigan's files for bankruptcy protection - Yahoo! News:

Restaurant chains Bennigan's and Steak & Ale have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and stores owned by its parent company will shut their doors.

There's a comment in there about franchisee stores maybe staying open, but my guess is that they're gone too, 'cause if enough stores close, the distributors will stop making the specialized products (sauces, items needed for particular recipes, that sort of thing) for that store and thus, they'll start to lose any advantage to being what they were.

still, there's a *sigh* there, 'cause I actually liked them most of the time (except for Steak and Ale's ruining of the atmosphere by 1) playing crappy lite jazz, and 2) not having an Ale to speak of, only lager beers).

Comments

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

*pout* I liked steak & ale, lovely bread, lovely soup.

Bennigan's didn't appeal to me that much but I know some who will miss it

[dawntreader]

oh wow! no more Ache and Stale!? we used to have our office Christmas parties there at the one in Timonium, MD.

[sestree.livejournal.com]

Our Bennigans there in Laurel closed a couple of months ago without much warning.

I wondered then what was going on. We figured the lease just went up too much to maintain.

I'll miss the broccoli bites and the buffalo chicken salad and the fact they carried Sam Adams Light :(

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

the majority of closing restaurants are being hit by "raise the lease", and since, outside of taxes, owning land doesn't cost any more 10 years after its bought, implies that some places are making bad decisions, either for their own economics or for the customers of the places they lease to.

Right now, Fair Oaks Mall has lost 60% of its restaurants, including fast food joints, in the last 5 years, only half of which have been replaced. There are still *5* large-scale food areas that are the big grey wall with no sign that anybody is moving in anytime soon.

this to me is a sign that rather than serving customers it has, the mall wants more of the higher-cost/higher-profit-margin places (like Cheesecake Factory, which took over the bennigans spot).

trouble is, in a recession, THOSE places get hit hard too and then you've got nothin' at all...from there, the slippery slope can't possibly look good...

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

Exhibit A - Marketplace - little mall in Bowie that currently nearly has tumbleweeds going through it.

[thelongshot.livejournal.com]

As bad as it is in Fair Oaks, Springfield Mall is worse. Large stretches of the mall is filled with grey walls. Even the two movie theaters are gone now.

in theory they're renovating

[kitteblue.livejournal.com]

The Mall anounced alst year, they were going to be closing sections at a time to do the make over. I'm curious to see what it ends up like when it's done.