Disney closing ESPN Zones nationwide

[CRedskinsRule]

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Larry Weisman LarryWeisman

Disney closing ESPN Zone restaurants nation-wide, including DC and Baltimore. Citing bad economy. 12 minutes ago via TweetDeck

[saden1]

No big loss for sports fans especially if there's a Buffalo Wild Wings near you...man, that place is paradise.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by saden1

No big loss for sports fans especially if there's a Buffalo Wild Wings near you...man, that place is paradise.

So are the wings there legit?

We've got one opening in my area this summer.

[saden1]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

So are the wings there legit?

We've got one opening in my area this summer.

If bones were edible I would.

We don't have one in Seattle area yet but apparently getting a franchise open is super hard.

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by saden1

If bones were edible I would.

We don't have one in Seattle area yet but apparently getting a franchise open is super hard.

I have a friend that bites through the bone and sucks out some of the marrow. I do it on occasion.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by tryfuhl

I have a friend that bites through the bone and sucks out some of the marrow. I do it on occasion.

I would not go around telling people that you will sometimes suck a bone.

[SmootSmack]

Closing June 16 in DC and Baltimore for those wondering

BWW wings are redonkulous!

[mredskins]

Damn where will I buy stadium price beers at a non-stadium now! Huge loss!

[BDBohnzie]

BWW is awesome. They may not beat your best local place's wing, but they are a good wing. 15 flavors to choose from (my fave: Mango Habanero), and Wing Specials weekly. Plus I think the closest one to me has at least 20 beers on tap, plus coolers full of bottles. Aside from the wings, think sports bar fried foods for the most part, but I haven't had anything there I didn't like.

As far as the Zones closing, I haven't been to a Zone in at least 5 years, so no big loss. What will be interesting in Baltimore and DC is to see what will take over their respective spaces.

[firstdown]

I like how they blame the bad economy and not their bad food and prices. If it was the economy then how come other chain stores are not closing their doors? A bad economy just weeds out the bad places faster.

[Monkeydad]

Originally Posted by firstdown

I like how they blame the bad economy and not their bad food and prices. If it was the economy then how come other chain stores are not closing their doors? A bad economy just weeds out the bad places faster.

Yeah, I went to the Inner Harbor one a few years ago, wasn't impressed.

[BDBohnzie]

I would imagine the overhead to run those places is astronomical, between the restaurant, bar and game rooms, and the people to staff those areas. If they were any one of those 3, they'd be fine. Combining all 3 under one roof is much harder to maintain in a weaken economy.

[SmootSmack]

This has been developing for a while. The Atlanta and Denver Zones were closed last year to less fanfare. The economy definitely hurts, it's hurting the restaurant business overall as fewer people are opting for sit-down eat-out restaurants. And leasing the space in some of these markets (such as NYC) is an astronomical hit. Plus the novelty has really worn off, especially as more and more households have their own home theater systems to watch sports.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

This has been developing for a while. The Atlanta and Denver Zones were closed last year to less fanfare. The economy definitely hurts, it's hurting the restaurant business overall as fewer people are opting for sit-down eat-out restaurants. And leasing the space in some of these markets (such as NYC) is an astronomical hit. Plus the novelty has really worn off, especially as more and more households have their own home theater systems to watch sports.

All I know if I go by our local mall area with all the restaurants the parking lots are full. I know the economy hurts some but you could never tell by their parking lots. I'm talking chain rest. and localy owned places. Last Thursday night we went out to a restaurant and the place was packed from the time we entered to the time we left. I'm talking about a rest. that you cannot get out of for anything less then $100 and we dropped $200 that night. It would be intresting to hear what SS33 can add sense he is in the business.

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by firstdown

All I know if I go by our local mall area with all the restaurants the parking lots are full. I know the economy hurts some but you could never tell by their parking lots. I'm talking chain rest. and localy owned places. Last Thursday night we went out to a restaurant and the place was packed from the time we entered to the time we left. I'm talking about a rest. that you cannot get out of for anything less then $100 and we dropped $200 that night. It would be intresting to hear what SS33 can add sense he is in the business.

I have a hard time feeling sorry for the mouse and love Disney-bashing as much as the next guy, but this is hardly a case of incompetent or poor management. The economy is rough out there for any disposable income related business. What you see in the restaurants and malls is still activity, but the overall spend is less. The average debt of families in the U.S. has also dropped. So not only are folks not incurring new debt, they're working to pay off old debt, hence not spending as much.

Our restaurant is down significantly from where we were even a year ago (remember unemployment is a lagging indicator). We're still keeping our heads above water, but that's due to reduced hours for our employees and increased hours for my wife and I. Our food distributors and other folks we know in the restaurant business are confirming what we see in our numbers. Also, two major local suppliers (one for bread, one for produce) that have been in business in Hampton Roads for over twenty years went out of business in the last 3-4 months. Our major supplier has cut its prices to push out our secondary supplier.

When you see Pizza Hut, Papa John's, etc. $ 10 pizza deals go away, then the economy is getting better.