Former McDonald's stands

[ftballfan]

This Family Video/Jimmy John's combo in Ludington, MI was built as a McDonalds. McDonalds built a new store 3/4 mile to the east in the early/mid 1990s: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.9562237,-86.4259371,3a,50.4y,161.73h,85.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sDcP-kTKeP4HXGrMgCgHcAA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

This Arby's was built as a McDonalds that didn't last very long (however, Arby's may have torn down the original McDonalds building and built their own building): https://www.google.com/maps/@42.8842396,-85.5655798,3a,39.2y,57.63h,87.55t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sPhAWjnCe2iULsxaj6dxigQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DPhAWjnCe2iULsxaj6dxigQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D324.03955%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

[gonealookin]

I forgot a very local one, in north Carson City.  It's in the parking lot of a long-deceased strip mall which was anchored by a Kmart.  The dialysis place is open but otherwise that place is derelict.  The I-580 bypass killed that part of town.

Aerial view on Google Maps - 3344 North Carson Street, Carson City, NV

"Ghosts of Carson" article with lots of photos.  The McDonald's did last until 2015, 12 years after the Kmart shut down.

[GCrites]

^I've not seen a whole lot of McDonald'ses with that design.

[SEWIGuy]

^I've not seen a whole lot of McDonald'ses with that design.

Wondering if they had to go with a similar design.  Or they wanted to.

Anyway the inside of that McD's has the most 90s looking decor ever.  Teal and mauve everywhere.

[roadman]

Union Street, Lynn, Massachusetts.  https://www.google.com/maps/@42.4642466,-70.9436433,3a,90y,339.39h,99.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sGkAolNougv9y6i0jz1LYzg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

What is now the Christian Vision Ministries building was originally a McDonalds, although not of the 'Classic' design.  It was also the first, and for may years the only, McDonalds in the chain to be closed soley due to a lack of profitability.   In the late 1970s, in an attenpt to revitalize the downtown area, Lynn took a cue from Boston's Downton Crossing, and turned part of Union Street, one of their key shopping districts, into a pedestrian mall.  The plan was a resounding failure, whith most of the remaining businesses closing up, and the street was reopened to vehicle traffic a few years later.  As for the McDonalds, those people who did visit Union Street didn't eat there because of the transients who would come in for a cup of coffee and sit there most of the day.  Largely because of this, the restaurant closed about a year after it opened.

[ErmineNotyours]

By the time the book McDonald's: Behind the Arches was published (1986), the author claimed that the chain had only closed one location due to bad business, and that was due to an early attempt to enter the Texas market.  I worked at a McDonald's, and their Crew magazine always featured the employees of one restaurant in front of a closed Burger King location nearby.  By the way, the name of the magazine on the small dispenser box was pushed to the far left of the front, cutting the "C" in half.  I have to imagine bored employees were writing an "S" in front of the title.

Benson Center, south of Renton, Washington.  A new store opened in the lot of a new CVS.

Greenwood, Seattle.  Since demolished, or built around.  Check the later Street Views to decide for yourself.  As far as I know, it simply went out of business.

University District, Seattle.  Since remodeled, though for a while the door still had the distinctive McDonald's handles.  Also simply went out of business, but with foot traffic like this I can't understand why.

[ErmineNotyours]

Bellevue, Washington.  Served time as a Fatburger, but now it's been swallowed by a larger development project.  The McDonald's inside Bellevue Square stayed open.

[ErmineNotyours]

The Vancouver Expo '86 McDonald's Barge.

[ilpt4u]

The Vancouver Expo '86 McDonald's Barge.

Made me think of the old McDonald's on the Mississippi River right by the Arch in St Louis. I even ate there, as part of an 8th Grade St Louis Field Trip

https://www.riverfronttimes.com/foodblog/2017/05/04/once-a-floating-mcdonalds-brought-golden-arches-to-the-banks-of-the-arch

Picture from the story of the McDonald's Barge

The background bridges in the photo are the Poplar Street Bridge (I-55/64/then 70) and the MacArthur Bridge (Rail and previously US 66 on the old Road Deck)

[jdb1234]

The Vancouver Expo '86 McDonald's Barge.

Made me think of the old McDonald's on the Mississippi River right by the Arch in St Louis. I even ate there, as part of an 8th Grade St Louis Field Trip

https://www.riverfronttimes.com/foodblog/2017/05/04/once-a-floating-mcdonalds-brought-golden-arches-to-the-banks-of-the-arch

Picture from the story of the McDonald's Barge

The background bridges in the photo are the Poplar Street Bridge (I-55/64/then 70) and the MacArthur Bridge (Rail and previously US 66 on the old Road Deck)

We were going to go there when I was in St. Louis in 2004, but we could not find it. 

[ilpt4u]

The linked story says it closed/was gone by 2000

I don't think it had a Drive-Thru, if memory serves. Probably should have had one, tho. There is enough tugboat and barge traffic on the Mississippi!

[gonealookin]

^I've not seen a whole lot of McDonald'ses with that design.

Wondering if they had to go with a similar design.  Or they wanted to.

Anyway the inside of that McD's has the most 90s looking decor ever.  Teal and mauve everywhere.

The architecture of that Carson City one is certainly a bit of an oddball as McDonald's go, but it matches the design of the old Kmart and adjacent strip mall across the parking lot.  I was wondering if maybe it wasn't even built to McDonald's spec, maybe the shopping center developer built a generic fast food with drive thru building and Ronnie Mac or a franchisee just happened to lease it before Wendy or The Burger King or somebody else got it, but going through real estate records it does look like it was the national McDonald's entity that bought that parcel and built it.  McDonald's sold the property in 2017, a few months before that blog article with the photos appeared, but to my knowledge nobody has ever done anything with the building.

[Stephane Dumas]

There was a former McDo stand in St-Hubert at the corner of Gaétan-Boucher and Payer Boulevards in St-Hubert, a Montreal suburb, who was closed in 1998 because the employees wanted to unionized. The place is now occupy by a Desjardins credit union.
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4767445,-73.4307372,3a,75y,334.35h,92.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjrArnIM_ChccACNJHVH-pQ!2e0!7i3328!8i1664

[US 89]

For a time, there was a used-car dealership in Woods Cross, Utah that was very clearly an old McDonalds location. The original McD's roof structure was removed, but the old drive-thru and Playplace room were fairly obvious.

That McDonalds moved about a quarter-mile south to a new location on 2600 South, following the reconstruction of that roadway between I-15 and US 89. As you can see on more recent Street View, that used car place has since been demolished and is now just a vacant lot.

[ftballfan]

^I've not seen a whole lot of McDonald'ses with that design.

Wondering if they had to go with a similar design.  Or they wanted to.

Anyway the inside of that McD's has the most 90s looking decor ever.  Teal and mauve everywhere.

The architecture of that Carson City one is certainly a bit of an oddball as McDonald's go, but it matches the design of the old Kmart and adjacent strip mall across the parking lot.  I was wondering if maybe it wasn't even built to McDonald's spec, maybe the shopping center developer built a generic fast food with drive thru building and Ronnie Mac or a franchisee just happened to lease it before Wendy or The Burger King or somebody else got it, but going through real estate records it does look like it was the national McDonald's entity that bought that parcel and built it.  McDonald's sold the property in 2017, a few months before that blog article with the photos appeared, but to my knowledge nobody has ever done anything with the building.

It's a minor miracle that two McDonalds within 3/4 mile of each other coexisted for as long as they did!

[plain]

I forgot about this one in Lawrenceville, VA. It actually wasn't that old when it closed (opened in the late 1990's or early 2000's). I was shocked especially since the next closest one (or any fast food joint for that matter) is 15 miles away.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/rrHWW1sc3E6B5uBg7

Images old & latest are from GSV



moto g(7) optimo (XT1952DL)

[plain]

^I've not seen a whole lot of McDonald'ses with that design.

Wondering if they had to go with a similar design.  Or they wanted to.

Anyway the inside of that McD's has the most 90s looking decor ever.  Teal and mauve everywhere.

The architecture of that Carson City one is certainly a bit of an oddball as McDonald's go, but it matches the design of the old Kmart and adjacent strip mall across the parking lot.  I was wondering if maybe it wasn't even built to McDonald's spec, maybe the shopping center developer built a generic fast food with drive thru building and Ronnie Mac or a franchisee just happened to lease it before Wendy or The Burger King or somebody else got it, but going through real estate records it does look like it was the national McDonald's entity that bought that parcel and built it.  McDonald's sold the property in 2017, a few months before that blog article with the photos appeared, but to my knowledge nobody has ever done anything with the building.

It's a minor miracle that two McDonalds within 3/4 mile of each other coexisted for as long as they did!

There's 2 McDonald's in the rather small town of Ashland, VA that coexist to this day and they're not even a mile apart. Hell they've both been remodeled!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/DbZ9rsvF6u32KXQg7

https://maps.app.goo.gl/egqPJt4QSUAH6nJi8

The one in the 2nd link is the town's original one and mainly serves I-95 traffic.

[ErmineNotyours]

San Ysidro, California.  Memorial to a mass shooting at a McDonald's.

[Konza]

There used to be a closed McDonalds near the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago.  I think it was on Division Street, but maybe not.  A neighborhood is pretty pathetic if a McDonald's can not make a go of it there.

[golden eagle]

There used to be a closed McDonalds near the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago.  I think it was on Division Street, but maybe not.  A neighborhood is pretty pathetic if a McDonald's can not make a go of it there.

I remember seeing that one.

A former McDonald's here in Jackson became a Chinese restaurant. Another former McDonald's later became the site of a Steak & Ale, later a Perkins Family Restaurant, and now a Fuddruckers/Luby's (closed since the pandemic).

[rickmastfan67]

I know of only 3 that have closed in the Pittsburgh area, 2 of which moved to new locations.

Penn Avenue in Downtown Pgh closed at the tale end of '19 before all this C19 stuff happened. https://goo.gl/maps/AR94JpSR31Unt4BKA

PA-8 in Gibsonia. Old location, new location just up the road.

PA-356 in Butler. Old location (open) (closed), new location just up the road as well.

Weirdly enough, the 2 that relocated both did so to new plazas that had a WalMart go in.

[jp the roadgeek]

This one, just across the street from ESPN World Headquarters, closed between 2008 and 2011 and has been about 5 different restaurants since, including a place called Red Chili's that used the same font as the more famous national chain known for it's babyback babyback babyback ribs.

[catch22]

This small building on Telegraph Road in Redford Township, Michigan was opened as a drive-through-only McDonald's back in the early 1980s.  It had signage that identified it as a "Mini-Mac" and I've never seen one like it anywhere else.


https://goo.gl/maps/WAkKDViYUhmuYbyB6

[Takumi]

I forgot about this one in Lawrenceville, VA. It actually wasn't that old when it closed (opened in the late 1990's or early 2000's). I was shocked especially since the next closest one (or any fast food joint for that matter) is 15 miles away.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/rrHWW1sc3E6B5uBg7

Images old & latest are from GSV

Interesting. The spot you linked shows it as it is now, closed, but if you move just once towards the building it goes back to the older SV from when it was still open. The older SV says 2019 on the copyright, but unless the closing was very, very sudden (the parking lot was restriped at some point) it looks to be a bit older as the Food Lion in the background had its logo updated in the interim.

[ErmineNotyours]

This small building on Telegraph Road in Redford Township, Michigan was opened as a drive-through-only McDonald's back in the early 1980s.  It had signage that identified it as a "Mini-Mac" and I've never seen one like it anywhere else.


https://goo.gl/maps/WAkKDViYUhmuYbyB6

Here's another drive-thru-only McDonald's: Tillicum, Washington, just outside Fort Lewis.  The later built a full-featured McDonald's next to it and demolished the smaller one.