for FReeper RegisteredPosted on 12/10/2002 7:49:27 PM PST by Registered
No more Grand Slams for FReeper Registered
| After 22 years, restaurant closes its doors Denny's Restaurant, a virtual institution among late-night diners, abruptly closed its doors for good Monday afternoon, citing lagging business. The Norton shores restaurant, which opened in 1980, closed at 3 pm Monday. The restaurant was hurt financially by safety and security concerns that forced the corporation to stop making it a 24-hour eatery-a "trademark" of Denny's restaurants, a corporate spokeswoman said. Customers (Like Me) and workers were not given advance warning the restaurant would be closing, said Melanie Mathews of Muskegon, a (darn good) server at the restaurant. Employees, some of whom worked at the restaurant for more than 20 years, were told the restaurant was closing during a meeting Monday afternoon, she said. "It was a big blow" (tell me about it), Mathews said, "There's a lot of people out of a job and a lot of families and children that will be affected by this...there were women in there sitting and crying"(not me, I'm a guy) The 48 employees were offered a two-week severance package and the opportunity to transfer to other Denny's restaurants, the closes being in Holland and on Plainfield Avenue in Grand Rapids, said Debbie Atkins, spokeswoman for Denny's, which is based in Spartanburg, S.C. The Norton Shores restaurant originally was open 24 hours. But several years ago, corporate officials (that don't understand Michigan "culture") decided to start closing at 3 am every day but Sunday, when it closed at 1:45am, Atkins said. "Unfortunately that hurt the business-the fact that we couldn't be open 24 hours," Atkins said,"Security is a top priority for us-ensuring the safety and security of our customers and employees. And we didn't believe we could do that at that location in the early morning hours" The restaruant was the site of a a couple of melees over the years. In 1994, police said a "near riot" and "free for all" brawl in the restaurant at 3:11am involved more than 50 people-practically all the patrons at the time (the Michigan "culture" thing). And in the 1999, a fight that involved 15 to 20 people caused $4,000 in damage at 3:32am . During that fray, patrons left without paying while others went into the cooking area and grabbed food (to eat and watch the action of course). Atkins said, Denny's now will be looking to sub-lease the property on which the corporation holds a long-term lease. Mathews said she was disappointed that the corporation chose to close the restaurant so close to Christmas. "It seems like they could have held on at least until after the holidays", she said, (and now for the Willie Green wind-up statement...) "To Denny's, you're no more than a bottom line number, and that's how we felt yesterday." Atkins said corporation officials "regret" the decision to close...there's never a good time for this," (duh) Atkins said. For any additional questions, call Denny's Customer Service Team at 1-800-733-6697.
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The truth is, Zack, that Registered's plight is likely NAFTA related.
It's pretty straightforward, really.
Factories move to Mexico, then the local economy sags, no longer able to support "service" businesses like Denny's.
It's the "ripple effect".
I could whip ya at Cracker Barrel, too.....
BTW thanks for your great images, I have found it to be a lot of fun to do myself as you can see above! :-)
And I'll bet at least 95% of the perps involved in those incidents mentioned in the article were Americans.
That's OK. I deserve to get "zinged" now and then.
And so does Registered.
But sadly, that is what's happening to many small towns all across America.
A factory shuts down or cuts back, and other local businesses feel the pinch.
I don't know about rare hamburger, steak, or steak tartar, but if you want "lickety split" you can get that in Nevada.
I still think he was going to rob the place but lost his nerve.....
Maybe he realized he should have put the pantyhose over his head BEFORE he walked in.
I don't know much about Muskegon.
It's on the western side of the state, on the shore of Lake Michigan.
I used to live about as far away as you can get going due east, near the shore of Lake Huron.
I don't know that I'd put a percentage on it, but we certainly had more than our fair share of illegals in The Thumb.
That thought crossed my mind as well. You should have seen the guy's eyes though - he had definitely ingested some sort of pharmaceutical before walking in the place. He had the coldest, most soulless look I've ever seen.
The moral: Wait until AFTER you knock over a Denny's before taking the bong hit.
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