Iconic restaurant and Denny's rival closes nearly all state's remaining locations - latest victim of

Publish date: 2022-01-05

A SOUTHERN staple that has spread throughout the country is closing nearly all its locations in Oregon.

Cracker Barrel has all but deserted the state as only one location remains open.

The three shuttered stores, located in Beaverton, Tualatin, and Bend, were abruptly closed on Monday.

This comes just months after another location was shut down in Jantzen Beach, which was closed due to security issues.

The Tualatin store was the first Cracker Barrel location on the west coast, opening almost exactly six years ago in April of 2017 according to a press release.

Employees were just as surprised as customers to hear of the closure as they were also notified Monday morning, according to local NBC affiliate KGW.

Read more on store closures

"It was just a regular day at work yesterday. Everyone was the same, I was talking with my manager about working more hours and taking time off for Spring break," said former employee Jordan Nerski who worked in Tualatin.

"We didn't really know anything was happening and just out of the blue this morning got a phone call."

The news outlet caught several customers attempting to sit down for a meal only to find a sign on the door saying the location was permanently closed.

The reason behind the closure was tied to hard times during the pandemic, according to a statement.

Most read in Money

"As a standard course of business, we continually evaluate the performance of our stores, using various criteria to ensure we are meeting the needs of our guests and our business," the company said.

"With that, we are saddened that we have been unable to overcome the impact the pandemic had on our business and have made the difficult decision to close the Beaverton, Tualatin, and Bend locations.

"The decision to close a store is never one we take lightly, and our focus right now is in assisting our impacted employees during this transition."

The only location remaining in Oregon is in Medford.

FACING THE 'RETAIL APOCALYPSE'

Cracker Barrel is the latest of many well-established businesses to feel the fury of the so-called "retail apocalypse."

The phrase was coined by Dennis Dick, a trader at Las Vegas-based Bright Trading LLC, while he was discussing Walmart's fall in quarterly profit with Reuters back in May 2022.

"This is a little bit of a retail apocalypse, it was Walmart and everybody thought it was a one-off."

"Now that Target missed earnings [by] a lot more than Walmart even did, they're scared that the consumer is not as strong as everybody thinks," said Dick.

Even well-established stores that have been around forever like Macy's are closing locations.

The iconic international retailer plans to close over 120 stores this year.

In 2020, executives announced that 125 stores across the country would shut down over the next three years.

In January, four stores closed in California, Colorado, Maryland, and Hawaii.

One of the longest lists of closures comes from Bed Bath & Beyond.

The home goods retailer has hopes to slash its number of locations from over 950 to less than 400.

Company officials have confirmed it is in the process of closing 150 stores across the country by the end of this month.

Read More on The US Sun

See which four Target locations are closing this spring.

Plus, see the incredible liquidation sales to shop ahead of the closures.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEZqqupl6YvK57zKilnrFfbIN5gZVrcGihmZi8r7XCZqmeq6SWwrOtza1knKSfqLK0ec2emKukqWKurbiMq5ymmZmjtq%2BzjKWmnJmknryvv4yoqZ6fn6N8