I was on the way to work today, and was in one of those occasional moods for an Egg McMuffin. Clawing my way off the train and into the daylight at San Francisco’s Powell Street station, I head up Powell to the McDonald’s.
Guess again, password-boy.
The McDonald’s was gone. The windows were painted over, and any semblance of McDonald’s was gone - all the graphics, color scheme, signage - everything. The only hint that there ever was a McDonald’s there was a small poster in the window saying this McDonald’s had closed and thanking us for the past 20+ years.
It was there on Monday - jam-packed with customers as ever. I could understand closing a shop if it was a poor performer, but this place was always crammed with tourists looking for a quick bite as they wait for the cable cars, and the locals. As the sign in the window suggests, this place had been there seeminlgly forever.
Imagine a world without McDonald’s. No, please, I’m serious! If we all imagine it, if we take heart from this closing and really, really believe that’s it’s possilbe, it may just happen. All together now:
“I can see a world without McDonald’s.”
“I can see a world without McDonald’s.”
“I can see a world without McDonald’s.”
Repeat until it’s true.
strange, I noticed a busy McDonalds down here in LA that was closed for no apparant reason also. Busy spot right on Ventura Blvd in the valley, just put signs up and looks like they are getting ready to paint over the walls. Oh well.
McDonalds is closing a lot of branches. They’re not doing nearly as well as they’d like. Towards the end of last year they announced they were pulling out of three countries entirely and closing 175 outlets around the world.
It’s actually a little surreal to see a closed McDonald’s. There was one on Thunderbird road in Phoenix that sat vacant for a couple of years at least. Not sure if it’s there now. It was a suburban strip mall type with drive through and parking ih a very high traffic location. which made it all the more bizarre.
We’ve had three McDonald’s closings in this are in the past couple of years…both of them, however, were accompanied by a McDonald’s opening in another nearby location (one was actually the exact same location).
I asked a friend (who is a McDonalds lifer) what that was all about. His response was that those buildings were so old, they were costing too much in mainanance. Furthermore, with the two that moved, the “prime” location had simply moved a couple of blocks away. Since the main reason for McDonald’s success stories have been all about location, that only made sense.
However, all 37 (or so) of the McDonald’s stores in my area are franchises, so the economics are slightly different than if it was a corporate store.
I’ve seen several in the Toledo area close over the years. Usually to build a new one on the same site. It’s actually quite amazing how fast they can go from closing a location, through tearing it down and clearing lot, constructing a new one and be open for business again. One very recent example was on a corner I go through several times a week. I don’t the entire process took but about 30 days.
Perhaps they’re just gonna rebuild on this site, too.
That McDonalds near the CalTrain station has fixed much hunger of mine when I was in the city for work (and especially after the Bay to Breakers last year when it poured like a MoFo - we changed in the bathroom). It was always crowded. Weird - rents must have gone up, etc.
