A BELOVED chain has abruptly closed its restaurants in Portland after it “couldn’t overcome the effects of the pandemic”.
Cracker Barrel — a rival to Applebee — revealed that its last two Oregon city locations closed their doors for the last time on March 20.
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The closures come just weeks after Walmart announced it would close all of its Portland stores.
And Portland-based retailer Green Zebra has announced it will close its three locations across the city on March 31.
Cracker Barrel revealed that eateries in Beaverton and Tualatin are closed on Mondays, according to Fox-affiliated KPTV.
The restaurant in Bend is also permanently closed, affecting about 30 staff.
Cracker Barrel cited the pandemic as the reason for the closures, according to a statement obtained by local NBC affiliate KGW8.
A spokesperson said: “It is standard practice that we continually evaluate the performance of our stores, using a variety of criteria to ensure we are meeting the needs of our guests and our business.
“As such, we are saddened that we were unable to overcome the impact of the pandemic on our business and have made the difficult decision to close the Beaverton, Tualatin and Bend locations.”
Cracker Barrel closed a restaurant in Jantzen Beach, Oregon last year due to safety concerns.
The Southern-themed restaurant isn’t the only business in or out of Portland.
Walmart stores in Hayden Meadows and East Port Plaza will close on March 24.
About 600 employees will be affected by the closures, but they will be able to transfer to other stores.
A spokesperson said: “The decision to close these stores has been made after a careful assessment of their overall performance.
“We consider many factors as we make these difficult decisions, including current and projected financial performance, location, population, customer needs and proximity to other stores in the area.
“Having decided to move forward, our focus is on our employees and their transition, which is the case here.”
The closures in Portland come a few months after Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned shoppers that closures would happen if retail crime was not addressed.
He told CNBC last December: “Theft is a problem. It is higher than what it has been historically.”
The Green Zebra branches in the city will also close their doors at the end of this month.
CEO Lisa Sedlar said the company has been hit by supply chain issues.
She said in a statement: “We have been holding on by a thread since the start of the pandemic and have cut spending since then.
“We’ve had nine consecutive quarters of increases in our cost of goods, packaging, fuel, insurance, taxes, freight and, well, pretty much everything.
“Combine that with supply chain and staff shortages and razor thin supermarket margins, we just couldn’t overcome all the obstacles.”
Sedlar revealed that the group had “fought the good fight.”
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