Springfield endures restaurant closures

Franchisees and brothers Bob and Bill Greene run the three remaining restaurants – 2036 S. Glenstone Ave., 4222 S. Campbell Ave. and 850 N. 17th St., Ozark. Bob Greene said the North Glenstone location had produced their lowest volume for several years, but he declined to share revenues.

The majority of its staff of 30 were full-time employees, Greene said. Six relocated to the other restaurants.

“We gave them all the option. We told them a week prior to closing that we would be closing it, and then we paid all of them a week’s severance pay,” Greene said.

The Greenes employ 120 in all.

The closing allows the Greenes more time to focus on their existing area restaurants, he said.

Long John Silver’s

May 11 was the last day for business at Long John Silver’s, 1710 S. Glenstone Ave. The corporate-owned restaurant operated there for 30 years.

“Our volume just wasn’t doing well there, especially with the growth like the new Captain D’s on Sunshine, and then all the co-brands we’ve allowed to come into the Springfield market in Nixa and Ozark pulled our business away from us,” said Kevin White, area coach for Yum! Brands, the Louisville, Ky.-based parent company of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver’s and A&W. Ozark Restaurants is the area Yum! Brands franchisee.

White would not share revenues. The store’s six full-time and four part-time employees were offered jobs at the remaining company-owned stores – 313 W. Kearney St., 236 N. Glenstone Ave. and 2110 S. Campbell Ave. All but two transferred, and those two received two weeks’ severance pay, White said.

Third Buckingham’s

Not all restaurant activity on the north side of Springfield involves closings.

David Campbell plans to open his third Buckingham’s Smokehouse by Aug. 1 at 2450 N. Glenstone.

He purchased the 4,000-square-foot restaurant, which housed Country Kitchen for 18 years, for an undisclosed price April 1. The restaurant will seat 120 and Campbell plans to add a drive-through window and an expanded version of the menu offered at his two other locations – 2002 S. Campbell Ave. and 112 E. Mt. Vernon St., Nixa.

“Businesses really neglect the north side,” Campbell said, adding that he anticipates pulling customers from the many hotel rooms and businesses near the restaurant.

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