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Oneonta Friendly’s

Shut, Patrons Find

Several CNY Ice-Cream Outlets Close

Friendly’s at the corner of Main and Walling in Oneonta has closed.

ONEONTA – Patrons arrived at Friendly’s at Main Street and Walling Avenue this morning to find the store has closed.

“We apologize to disappointing you on this visit, but this location is now closed for business,” a sign posted on the door reads.

Friendly’s end locally appears to be part of Sunday’s closing of a number of outlets in the ice-cream-based chain across the region, including some around Syracuse and as far away at Buffalo.

In an email received a few moments ago, Friendly’s spokesman Hannah Arnold said, “Please note that employees were informed personally.  (They did not learn from a sign.) The company is working to support them with opportunities at other locations or severance payments and other assistance.”

A notice on Friendly’s door this morning announces the Oneonta restaurant is closed. (Jennifer Hill/AllOTSEGO.com)

Masslive.com is reporting the Waltham-based company closed 14 restaurants in Upstate New York, three in Massachusetts, three in Connecticut, two in New Hampshire and one in Maine.

Following these actions, Friendly’s will have 77 corporate-owned restaurants and 97 franchisee-owned restaurants.

It quoted COO Dennis Pfaff saying he expects more restaurants to close as leases expire. The chain, he said, is shrinking its networked to fit market conditions and shedding stores that that are no longer in high-traffic shopping locations.

Posted

16 Comments

  1. Nice of them not to even gives employees a heads up! Omg they did this in Vestal on Sunday too. Unprofessional

  2. That was very nasty what you did to your employee you would have wanted a 2 week notice from them. No one should ever step foot in any friendly ever again

  3. The Oneonta store will be missed. It was my favorite place to eat . But I guess you have to take care of profits

  4. I am saddened. This was a terrible way to close. I also will miss the friendlys. I planned to go there when we came to NY again.

  5. Two of my friends and I went in to Friendly’s about 2 months ago after church. They only had about 2 other customers. I know at one time on Sundays they would have been very busy with customers after church.

    It took over an hour for my friends and I to receive our food. My friends and I knew we would not be back again. Our waitress was fantastic and we knew it wasn’t her fault.

  6. This is such a poor business practice to not inform employees of the closure. This is not the way to treat people. I will never set foot in another Friendly’s. The company certainly doesn’t live up to its name.

  7. Oneonta having the college student push that it does.. if oneonta friendly’s were marketed and promoted correctly and accordingly, this location would be thriving above the rest.calling it a slow traffic location is absurd and a lame excuse for not taking advantage of the 1000’s of influx students every year. To leave your employees out to dry like you did, is the biggest slap in the face to not only them but to your patrons, because we all now see loud and clear what matters to you. It’s not those working hard making you profits for decades and it certainly isn’t any of your patrons. I won’t spend a dime ever again on anything your company holds.

  8. I feel bad for the employees losing their job but the oneonta restaurant was always a nasty place to eat. Im glad its finally closed

  9. Deplorable. I’m glad your business is out of my city if this is how you treat your staff. Shame on you.

  10. I was there quite a few times and always found the food took way too long to come out, the place was not clean and the staff talking behind the counter about patrons or just complaining, made it a very unfriendly place to eat indeed. It is terrible that a sign was posted and that the staff, although told, has little opportunity for retrainig and hiring in our area.

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