Favorite Restaurant Chain Closes More Stores

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If you were to look at the store locator on TGI Friday’s website one week ago, you would’ve seen 213 different locations. If you look at that same store locator today, only 164 locations are listed.

What happened?

According to Yahoo! Finance, TGI Friday’s is preparing to declare bankruptcy, and in preparation, they’re closing more of their restaurant locations.

These aren’t the first closures either. Previously, TGI Friday’s closed 36 locations that they described as “underperforming.” Those closures happened in January, 2024, and the locations spanned 12 different states.

While TGI Friday’s has not released a list of the locations that recently closed, people who live near a TGI Friday’s that is no longer open are sure to notice. Local news sources have released reports, and when compiled, it’s fairly easy to determine the states and cities that no longer have a TGI Fridays.

The closures happened in Bridgewater, New Jersey, Watchung, New Jersey and Middletown Township in Pennsylvania. There were also multiple closures in California, Ohio, and New York.

TGI Friday’s has reportedly been struggling for years. While it started as a thriving and innovative business model that was able to change with the times for awhile, it seems that they may no longer be able to change or adapt enough to stay afloat.

They were hurt in particular when Covid caused restaurants to close their doors and consumers changed many of their habits as far as where and how they shop and eat out.

While they were able to bounce back a little bit after Covid, they are not back to where they were in 2019. Yet, the problems for TGI Friday’s started long before 2020.

Watch the video below to learn why TGI Friday’s is struggling and how they overcame problems in the past.

Do you think TGI Friday’s will be able to recover, or do you think they will end up closing all of their restaurant locations?