Friendly's ($PRIVATE:FRIENDLYS) closed 23 stores in New England and New York state this past week, as it repositions itself and shrinks its footprint to remain competitive.
Founded in Springfield, Massachusetts, the diner-style chain restaurant known for 22 ice-cream flavors is privately-owned by Sun Capital Partners, who bought the chain's restaurants in 2007 for $337 million. Before the closures, it had 221 stores that covered the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida.
The 23 closures represent over 10% of the company's retail stable. The closures happened so suddenly that U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer asked for an investigation into it. However, according to alternative data we've tracked via publicly-available Facebook trends, it seems that this truly was a "months-long" decision as described by CEO George Michael.
Here's why.
In terms of voluntary check-ins, the number of people posting about Friendly's on location has gone down over the past year. This not only means that people are removing posts or deleting their accounts, but also that not many people are posting about being in Friendly's,
In terms of non-voluntary foot traffic tracked by "Were Here Count," Friendly's still had an increase, but when comparing change in "Were Here Count" quarter-over-quarter, there was a slowdown over the past year.
What is interesting is that, in the weeks leading up to these closures, there was a spike in "Were Here Count" at Friendly's locations. That leaves open the theory that patrons may have had a "last hurrah sundae" at locations that were set to close down.
Who's next? Denny's? TGI Friday's? Dine Brands Global Portfolio?
With the retail apocalypse in full swing, delivery companies fighting in a turf war for customers, and companies focusing on a delivery mindset, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Friendly's competitors who directly fought for patrons with the now-closed Friendly's.
The diner-style American food Friendly's serves can be comparable to Denny's ($DENN) or even TGI Friday's ($PRIVATE:TGIFRIDAYS). Given that our database has the closed Friendly's locations, as well as the locations of these chains, we're able to see which competing brand resides close to where Friendly's vacated the premises.
|
Closed Friendly’s Street |
Closed Friendly’s City |
State |
Nearest Restaurant #1 |
Nearest Distance #1 (Miles) |
Nearest Store Street #1 |
Nearest Store City #1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
3540 McKinley Parkway |
Blasdell |
NY |
Applebee's |
0.111 |
4405 Milestrip Road |
Blasdell |
|
3275 Erie Boulevard |
Dewitt |
NY |
Applebee's |
0.200 |
3189 Erie Blvd.East |
Dewitt |
|
3081 West Ridge Road |
Rochester |
NY |
Denny's |
0.268 |
2890 W. RIDGE ROAD |
ROCHESTER |
|
48 Western Avenue |
Augusta |
ME |
Applebee's |
0.384 |
136 Western Ave |
Augusta |
|
4081 Route 31 |
Clay |
NY |
Applebee's |
0.426 |
3975 Route 31 |
Liverpool |
|
81 Newtown Road |
Danbury |
CT |
Denny's |
0.496 |
61 NEWTOWN RD |
DANBURY |
|
1148 Front Street |
Binghamton |
NY |
Denny's |
0.527 |
1250 UPPER FRONT ST. |
BINGHAMTON |
|
4350 Maple Road |
Amherst |
NY |
IHOP |
0.614 |
4003 Maple Rd |
AMHERST |
|
6651 Transit Road |
Williamsville |
NY |
Applebee's |
0.698 |
5017 Transit Road |
Williamsville |
|
27 Temple Street |
Framingham |
MA |
IHOP |
0.730 |
17 Edgell Road |
FRAMINGHAM |
|
162 West Street |
Keene |
NH |
Applebee's |
0.732 |
40 Key Road |
Keene |
|
377 Main Street |
Oneonta |
NY |
Denny's |
0.771 |
4979 STATE HWY 23 |
ONEONTA |
|
149 Daniel Webster Highway |
Nashua |
NH |
IHOP |
1.031 |
230 Daniel Webster Hwy |
NASHUA |
|
3701 James Street |
Syracuse |
NY |
Denny's |
1.396 |
6591 THOMPSON ROAD |
SYRACUSE |
|
544 Reidville Drive |
Waterbury |
CT |
IHOP |
1.725 |
495 Union Street, Suite 2168 |
WATERBURY |
|
4 Spencerport Road |
Rochester |
NY |
Applebee's |
2.383 |
2120 Chili Ave. |
Rochester |
|
301 East Main Street |
Endicott |
NY |
TGI Fridays |
2.657 |
2445 Vestal Pkwy E |
Vestal |
|
3935 Dewey Avenue |
Greece |
NY |
Applebee's |
2.845 |
200 Paddy Creek Circle |
Rochester |
|
10 South Main St. |
Jamestown |
NY |
Applebee's |
3.056 |
340 East Fairmount Avenue |
Lakewood |
|
1111 Lexington Street |
Waltham |
MA |
IHOP |
5.364 |
1850 Soldiers Field Road |
BRIGHTON |
|
1060 Main Street |
Holden |
MA |
Denny's |
5.569 |
494 LINCOLN ST |
WORCESTER |
|
519 Heritage Road |
Southbury |
CT |
TGI Fridays |
10.979 |
335 Union St |
Waterbury |
|
192-196 West Bridge Street |
Oswego |
NY |
Applebee's |
23.550 |
3975 Route 31 |
Liverpool |
For these companies, the Friendly's closures means that either these companies will get a boost of traffic in these areas... Or this was an omen for the markets that have potentially run dry.
Anthony Tapias contributed to reporting this piece.