Pop Culture

Times Square Red Lobster Shuts Its Doors After 23 Years

The chain restaurant cited ongoing construction as an issue in generating foot traffic.

A busy street scene at dusk with people crossing in front of a Red Lobster restaurant, surrounded by bright billboards and city lights.
Image via Craig T Fruchtman/Getty Images

The Times Square Red Lobster has officially shut its doors.

On Sunday (June 14), the chain restaurant, situated at the corner of 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, bid adieu after a 23-year run in the heart of New York City.

Red Lobster announced the closure last month, revealing that the cause wasn’t concerns over profit but ongoing construction.

"Extensive and prolonged construction at the building has significantly impacted access, visibility, and foot traffic at this restaurant," a Red Lobster rep said. "Given those conditions, along with the building's planned conversion to residential use, continuing to operate at this location was no longer viable."

"Times Square has been an important chapter in Red Lobster's history, and this was a difficult decision," the company added.

Staff at the location are reportedly being offered transfers to any Red Lobster of their choosing, plus additional pay to help cover the transition. With the closure, Red Lobster no longer operates in Manhattan, though it does have locations in the Bronx and Brooklyn.

Many outposts have shuttered following Red Lobster's 2024 bankruptcy filing.

Last month, the chain’s last remaining restaurant in Tallahassee, Florida, ended a 56-year run for what had become the chain’s oldest continuously operating location. In April, Red Lobster closed its final location in Charleston, South Carolina.

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