Defunct restaurant chains and retailers

[Revive 755]

Benningans did that one when the parent company of Steak & Ale and Benningans filed for bankruptcy had franchises issued, but the one in Lake Buena Vista, FL still closed a few years later.  Do not know if Benningan franchises are still around elsewhere as in Central Florida that was the only one that was after going under.

Including one in Florida (Melbourne), the Benningan website shows a total of 11 still in existence.

[roadman65]

Shells was another one thought to be defunct, but there is still the original in Tampa and one in Melbourne still open.  Shells was a regional chain in Florida serving seafood.  It used to have many around the center of the state.

[catch22]

Art Van Furniture, which started in Detroit with a single store in 1959 and eventually grew to 200 stores in Michigan and several other states, is shutting down operations. Liquidation sales begin March 6.

The original owner's family sold the company to an equity firm in 2017.  I guess they got out at the right time.

https://wwjnewsradio.radio.com/articles/news/art-van-going-out-business-liquidation-sales-to-start-friday

Apparently some Art Van stores will remain open.  I was expecting to see the Evansville, IN  store announce their closing, but the reports yesterday afternoon were that it would remain open.  It is supposedly one of a couple of dozen franchise stores.

Looks like the franchisees will have a rather short window (60 days or so) to stop using the Art Van name, according to this article.  I always thought all the stores were company-owned.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/retail/these-art-van-stores-dont-plan-close-though-sign-out-front-will-have-change

[renegade]

Looks like the franchisees will have a rather short window (60 days or so) to stop using the Art Van name, according to this article.  I always thought all the stores were company-owned.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/retail/these-art-van-stores-dont-plan-close-though-sign-out-front-will-have-change

Your link lurks behind a paywall.

[catch22]

Looks like the franchisees will have a rather short window (60 days or so) to stop using the Art Van name, according to this article.  I always thought all the stores were company-owned.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/retail/these-art-van-stores-dont-plan-close-though-sign-out-front-will-have-change

Your link lurks behind a paywall.

Odd.  Works for me just fine (just checked it).  No clue as to why it would be different.

[kurumi]

AFIAK there was never a Zayre in CT, only Ames.

There was one in East Hartford near the CT 3 approach: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecaldorrainbow/2327013258
It changed to Ames, and now there's a Home Depot.

Stumbled across this Zayre's ad which looks like one of the fake commercials in Robocop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J11dHKFReVc

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"

[KEVIN_224]

Can I now un-see that ad? Damn you! (Ha ha!) Don't make me send those Two Guys after you!

[sbeaver44]

Turning here because I cannot find it.

Looking for any information on a gas station chain/oil company in central PA, probably 20-25 years ago

Problem is, the name is BEST, so searching is very, very hard because I just get a million top ten lists and Angie's list type stuff.

The logo was very plain, white rectangle, BEST in blue with a red bar above and below.  Possibly reverse the blue/red.

There was one at 4106 William Penn Highway, Mifflintown, PA 17059.  This is now a Gulf station.

Does anyone happen to remember BEST gas stations?

[Bruce]

The Downtown Seattle location for Macy's recently closed, but it was known for much longer as the flagship store of The Bon Marche. The Bon was a Northwest institution and had a classic advertising jingle played on TV sets around the region:

[briantroutman]

Looking for any information on a gas station chain/oil company in central PA, probably 20-25 years ago

...

The logo was very plain, white rectangle, BEST in blue with a red bar above and below.  Possibly reverse the blue/red.

As a Central PA native, I don't remember seeing BEST in my travels around the state back then. That's not saying that I absolutely didn't see it, but if I did, it must not have made much of an impression. My guess is that it may have registered in my mental files as "cheap off-brand gas station"  along the lines of "US Gas"  and similarly generic names I've seen slapped onto an old Amoco or Texaco by a small-time operator to keep the gasoline flowing.

But out of curiosity, I searched through Trademarkia for any trademark registrations of "BEST"  for the purposes of retailing gasoline. I found this record–registered by Total Petroleum in 1977 and which expired in 1998. Unfortunately, the trademark record doesn't have an image attached, as many do.

[hbelkins]

Looks like the franchisees will have a rather short window (60 days or so) to stop using the Art Van name, according to this article.  I always thought all the stores were company-owned.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/retail/these-art-van-stores-dont-plan-close-though-sign-out-front-will-have-change

Your link lurks behind a paywall.

Odd.  Works for me just fine (just checked it).  No clue as to why it would be different.

Cookies? I've blocked cookies on a couple of sites that cut you off after only viewing a certain number of stories per month and nag you for a subscription, and it works well.

[catch22]

Looks like the franchisees will have a rather short window (60 days or so) to stop using the Art Van name, according to this article.  I always thought all the stores were company-owned.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/retail/these-art-van-stores-dont-plan-close-though-sign-out-front-will-have-change

Your link lurks behind a paywall.

Odd.  Works for me just fine (just checked it).  No clue as to why it would be different.

Cookies? I've blocked cookies on a couple of sites that cut you off after only viewing a certain number of stories per month and nag you for a subscription, and it works well.

I've done that before as well.  Could also be something to do with using a user's location based on IP addresses.

[jp the roadgeek]

Looks like the franchisees will have a rather short window (60 days or so) to stop using the Art Van name, according to this article.  I always thought all the stores were company-owned.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/retail/these-art-van-stores-dont-plan-close-though-sign-out-front-will-have-change

Your link lurks behind a paywall.

Odd.  Works for me just fine (just checked it).  No clue as to why it would be different.

Cookies? I've blocked cookies on a couple of sites that cut you off after only viewing a certain number of stories per month and nag you for a subscription, and it works well.

I've done that before as well.  Could also be something to do with using a user's location based on IP addresses.

That's what private/incognito mode is for. 

[renegade]

Looks like the franchisees will have a rather short window (60 days or so) to stop using the Art Van name, according to this article.  I always thought all the stores were company-owned.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/retail/these-art-van-stores-dont-plan-close-though-sign-out-front-will-have-change

Your link lurks behind a paywall.

Odd.  Works for me just fine (just checked it).  No clue as to why it would be different.

Cookies? I've blocked cookies on a couple of sites that cut you off after only viewing a certain number of stories per month and nag you for a subscription, and it works well.

I've done that before as well.  Could also be something to do with using a user's location based on IP addresses.

That's what private/incognito mode is for.

But ... I'm in ... Detroit!

[sbeaver44]

Turning here because I cannot find it.

Looking for any information on a gas station chain/oil company in central PA, probably 20-25 years ago

Problem is, the name is BEST, so searching is very, very hard because I just get a million top ten lists and Angie's list type stuff.

The logo was very plain, white rectangle, BEST in blue with a red bar above and below.  Possibly reverse the blue/red.

There was one at 4106 William Penn Highway, Mifflintown, PA 17059.  This is now a Gulf station.

Does anyone happen to remember BEST gas stations?

This is what I remember the logo being

[D-Dey65]

Did I mention that I found out the All-American Hamburger Drive-In in Massapequa used to be a chain? I think I did.

[hbelkins]

Another Ponderosa location bites the dust. The one in Hazard, Ky., which by all indications was doing extremely well, announced Friday that it will not be reopening. This restaurant got some notoriety because they posted on their marquee "Closed Due To Governor" when the governor ordered dine-in restaurants closed back in mid-March.

[formulanone]

Sweet Tomatoes / Souplantation announces the permanent shutdown of all 97 stores (they have been closed since March).

https://sweettomatoes.com

[SEWIGuy]

Damn.  Didn't have one near me but Sweet Tomatoes are usually one of my go tos for lunch when travelling for business. 

[LM117]

Sweet Tomatoes / Souplantation announces the permanent shutdown of all 97 stores (they have been closed since March).

https://sweettomatoes.com

They filed bankruptcy not too long ago, so they were already in trouble. COVID-19 just finished them off.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

A lot of people think buffets will be especially screwed by COVID-19, but I've seen enough memes of people who can't wait for Chinese buffets to reopen that I'm not so sure.

[US71]

A lot of people think buffets will be especially screwed by COVID-19, but I've seen enough memes of people who can't wait for Chinese buffets to reopen that I'm not so sure.

Chinese buffets make me ill. I used to frequent Golden Corral 

[kphoger]

A lot of people think buffets will be especially screwed by COVID-19, but I've seen enough memes of people who can't wait for Chinese buffets to reopen that I'm not so sure.

What I heard from family is that Chinese restaurants are opening up, but the buffet is still closed, so it's all menu-ordering.

[hbelkins]

JC Penney's filing for bankruptcy. No word yet on what stores will be closing.

[sparker]

Sweet Tomatoes announced yesterday (5/8) that they're shutting down all 70-odd of their remaining restaurants immediately -- closing for good.  This is probably the likely fate for restaurants that rely on the salad/soup/breakfast bar approach; en masse self-service in general is unlikely to survive this pandemic, especially if it continues to be problematic (if not overwhelming) over time.   This is likely to bode pretty well for table-service restaurants in the mid-term; greater control over customer contact points.  Of all the places that fit that format -- and are established as traveler-oriented -- Perkins might come out of this in good shape; wouldn't be surprised if they wind up expanding their outlets over a wider region (maybe out West or farther south than they've previously ventured).  And if they 86 their minimalist and not universal salad bars, Denny's might even come out of this more viable than before.