I ate at the Friendly's in Fall River a few weeks ago. They are always pretty busy. It's decent food for the price.

I really, really, REALLY wanted to buy my local pub when it went up for sale. However, I didn't even need to see the books. Tourism in town is down and just by judging from going to many places, people in the place plunking down cash is way, way down. Sure, the time to buy is now if you can take losses for a few years and maybe, sometime in the future you'll see profitability. Just too risky unless you know enough people to guarantee asses in the seats pounding down beers and burgers. It can be done, and is being done, but the article points out the real problem, far too many seats compared to the number of paying customers. Everyone is fighting over the same customers and cutting their prices to do so.

Buffalo Wild wings really seemed to have it going on last I saw one in 2006. Great concept. No idea how they're doing now. It's sad that just about every industry experienced this idea that you could expand so large that profits would always go up. The housing boom and perceived wealth factor has really f*cked this economy in more ways than we know.

Zombie restaurants?

*considers plundering the Sluggy Freelance archive and decides it's not worth it*

s1ugg0: wombatsrus: I didn't think Sbarro still existed outside of I-95 rest stops.

That's entirely unfair. I've seen them at the mall once or twice.

I once saw one at South Station in Boston. It has since become a Pizzeria Regina