I haven’t heard anything in the news about it, but the two nearest me just closed. 
(OK, Arby’s is not great culinary monument of Western civilization. But shaved-roast-beef sandwiches and potato-cakes are an occasionally-welcome variant on the standard burgers-‘n’-fries.)
Arby’s has always been kind of third-tier and struggling. Most of the ones I’ve visited, across the country, seem to be run by East Indian families. At a guess, they are a franchise easy to get into but not very profitable in the long run, so they’re a good starting point for immigrants with a little capital who then move on to enterprises with a better return.
All I got’s the Millhouse line from the Simpsons : “I’m so hungry, I’d eat Arby’s!”
All the ones near me are not only in business but usually have a line out the door during the lunch rush.
Near my office, there were two relatively close together (4ish blocks), a new one and an old one. They closed the old one… then remodeled the old one and closed the new one.
The remodeled old one seems to have huge lines in the drive thru everytime I go past, to the point where, if I want Arby’s, I make a differnt choice as I don’t have time for that kind of line.
There’s every form of fast food known to man within about a three-block radius of me. Even despite all that competition, the Arby’s seems to be doing fine.
Most likely an issue with the franchisee. Here in Minnesota over the last couple of years, we’ve had a large number of different franchises just close up shop or drastically reduce their store count due to struggling franchisees. They get over their head buying too many stores and accumulating too much debt, then when trouble hits, they’re done.
Forbes reports that they have had 9 consecutive quarter increases in same-store sales. So, no GOOB.
Their new King’s Hawaiian Roll Roast Beef sandwich is pretty spectacular.
I stay with the basic sandwiches, but as I used to have one down the street and now the nearest is well over 30 miles away…
King’s Hawaiian rolls are too bland and sweet for me. Here in the land of bland and sweet, I actively avoid anything known to be in that food group.
IIRC, the King’s Hawaiian I had had dill pickles on it, so it wasn’t overly sweet.
and his dad’s solution to disposing of a dead animal: “Just throw it over the fence, let Arby’s worry about it.”
That was the twins not Millhouse. 
But yeah, the closest one to my house has closed down as well. I love me some Arby’s. I wish they’s bring back that 5 for 5 deal.
You forgot to mention Jamocha shakes. I haven’t been to one in a while but now that you got me thinking about Jamocha shakes… shakes fist
That brings back memories. I worked at Arby’s in 1995/1996 during my senior year of high school. The “five for 5” gave you five Regular Roast Beef sandwiches for 5 bucks was really popular at our location, but only offered a few times a year. Several years later, I remember seeing it advertised as “five for $5.55” and a year or two ago I saw “five for $5.95.”
I think the complaint is the roll itself is sweet. Never had the Arby’s version, but King’s are pretty friggin’ sweet as far as rolls go. Not that I don’t use them from time to time, but they are quite sweet, IMHO. I can’t see dill pickles cutting through that sweetness. It’s just “sweet and sour” then.
How can you be bland and sweet at the same time?
Sugar frosted cardboard.
I really didn’t find the roll to be too sweet at all. It was definitely sweeter than their normal bread, but not overly so. Also, it got a nice caramelization where they toasted it. I also liked the chewiness of the Hawaiian roll. I load my roast beef sandwiches with tons of Horsey sauce, so the sweet bun was a nice counter flavor to that.
There’s one just a couple of blocks away from me. It’s pretty empty most of the time but lunch rush on the weekends is ridiculus. All the tables are taken and the line’s out the door. I’m addicted to their cream cheese jalapeno poppers. 100000000% better than the chedder ones which as soon as they cool get all hard. And the beef and chedders are really good. Although since the economy crapped the seem to put on about half the beef as they used to which is why I now by two and slap them together.
Damn, now I’m hungry for some Arbys.