The closure had been planned before the pandemic, the company said in a statement to CNN Business, noting that “it was a difficult decision.”
But McDonald’s (DCM) It will continue to have a large presence in the area.
Last year, McDonald’s opened a three-story location at 45th Street and Broadway, calling it the new McDonald’s Flagship Times Square. That location seats about 170 people and displays the company’s digital order kiosks.
The closure of the 42nd Street location “allows us to focus on serving customers a few blocks away on the new McDonald’s flagship at 45th and Broadway and in neighboring communities,” McDonald’s said, noting that it regularly reviews its portfolio of restaurants. The company, which has around 38,700 restaurants worldwide, plans to add 1,000 more this year.
The Times Square location was first opened in 2002, with a striking tent that paid tribute to the theater district. Inside, too, the restaurant was supposed to evoke its surroundings.
“The three-story interior of the restaurant is intended to resemble the backstage of a Broadway theater, complete with theater lamps with ‘barn door’ lapels and colored gels,” the New York Times wrote in a 2002 article about the new location.
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