Wenatchee Shari's serves last customers

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Wenatchee Shari's serves last customers

Restaurant in East Wenatchee remains open

By Mike Irwin
World staff writer

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

01/02/2013 World photo/Mike Irwin

Morning customers arrive in the parking lot of the Wenatchee Shari's for a final breakfast at the restaurant. It closes for good at 1 p.m. today.

WENATCHEE — State cops, FBI guys and other law officers will be searching tomorrow for a new place to sip morning coffee after the Shari’s Restaurant here closes for good at 1 p.m. today.

“Those troopers and deputies have been loyal customers for more than 20 years,” said Lanna Jordan, a Shari’s supervisor and trainer. “We’re the place where they started their day, touched base with their buddies. It’s sort of sad to see that end.”

After more than two decades, the Shari’s Restaurant at 1516 N. Wenatchee Ave. will close after its lease expired in August. Company executives said the building would require expensive, expansive remodeling to bring it up to Shari’s new branding standards of brighter, fresher interiors.

The only other Shari’s in North Central Washington — at the Wenatchee Valley Mall in East Wenatchee — will remain open.

“It’s a matter of dollars and cents in a tough economy,” said Michael Kiriazis, vice president of marketing for the Beaverton, Ore., company. “Wenatchee is a small market being served by two restaurants. The lease is up, it’s expensive to remodel, so we had to make some tough decisions.”

Shari’s has no plans to shut any other of its more than 100 restaurants in 2013, said Kiriazis. Two restaurants with similar issues of expired lease and high-cost renovations were closed in 2012, he said.

Rumors began circulating a year ago that one of the Wenatchee area Shari’s might close at year’s end. The 30 employees at the Wenatchee restaurant were notified Thursday, they said, that it was definitely their facility that would be shut down. Signs went up soon after to notify customers of the closure.

Jordan, 26, a Wenatchee employee for more than 6 years, is one of the few employees who will be transferred to the East Wenatchee store. Other employees will be eligible for rehire as soon as positions become available, a company official said.

01/02/2013 World photo/Mike Irwin

Shari's Restaurant in Wenatchee closes at 1 p.m. today after more than two decades of 24-hour operations.

“A lot of employees have put in hard work — blood, sweat and tears — to make this a favorite restaurant for a lot of people,” said 40-year-old waitress Kelley Jackson, who’s worked at the restaurant for 6 years and won’t be transferred to the East Wenatchee operation.

“But for me, it’s a door closing and another door opening,” she said. She’ll fall back on her second waitressing job at the Country Inn in East Wenatchee and begin classes soon at The Beauty Academy to start a new career.

“We can understand the costs of renovating the building,” said Jordan. “But business here has been good — it seems like we’re always busy — and the customers loyal.”

She grabbed a handful of menus and turned to escort a family to a big booth. “Our regular customers have said they’ll miss us. We’ve been saying our goodbyes over the last few days — and that’s definitely a hard thing to do.”

Mike Irwin: 665-1179

irwin@wenatcheeworld.com

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» 13 comments on this story

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lonedog3 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Denny's serves up a great cup of coffee as well as a fantastic breakfast with very cheerful friendly wait staff!!

cola87 4 months, 2 weeks ago

I agree, Denny's is a great choice! Breakfast is excellent,prices are very fair and wait staff is friendly.

karilg 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Smitty's is our favorite and we like supporting a local business!

JimboBear 4 months, 2 weeks ago

My old HS class does a monthly breakfast at Smitty's, and I have to agree Kari. Generous portions and great service most days. I almost hate to admit that I remember when Smitty's opened in about '57 or '58 and a lot of people thought it was very strange to have a restaurant that specialized in breakfasts. Some claimed it would never last. Hmmmmm! Fifty plus years seems like a lasting thing to me!

karilg 4 months, 2 weeks ago

My hubby and I don't really get date nights so we do date mornings at Smittys while the boys are at school. We love the people and the food is good!

loves2travel 4 months, 2 weeks ago

We quit eating at Smitty's when they put up their new sign. I'm sorry but that face with the tongue hanging out is disgusting.

Tammiepa 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Sassy's diner on So. Wenatchee Ave is another good option and parking isn't bad early in the morning. They serve breakfast all day, so if you like breakfast for lunch, it's a good place to go.

avisys 4 months, 2 weeks ago

I suspect that a major factor that drove a stake through the heart of Shari's was the institution in recent years by major hotel chains to serve free breakfast to their customers. And those breakfasts have gotten BIG! With choices from Cheerios to eggs to sausage to . . .

I spend 10 days each year in Wenatchee (my home town) and I stay at the Holiday Inn Express. The free breakfast I get there each day is tremendous --- the biscuits and sausage gravy with a side of bacon or sausage, all you can eat, adds many pounds to my frame. It takes weeks for me to recover.

All the people I see eating there in the AM, and at other major hotels in the Wenatchee area, are (now were) potential Shari's customers. I'll bet it hit Shari's breakfast business hard.

Yeah, I know, it's not "free," but you get the idea.

Dudleydoright 4 months, 2 weeks ago

avisys, you hit the nail on the head, that has his breakfast restaurants especially hard. It really started with Comfort Inn. Most of the "hotel breakfasts" were a stale donut and coffee, comfort inn changed all that. Mcdonalds has also become a powerhouse in the breakfast biz, tough to compete with a drive through for price and convience.

JimboBear 4 months, 2 weeks ago

I never cared much for Shari's OR Denny's to be honest. Something about the structured menu of a franchised restaurant usually turns me off at breakfast time. Seems like the bigger the chain, the less I care for it. I'd rather find a small hole-in-the-wall Mom and Pop type place where you get something much closer to a home cooked breakfast. Actually, the same holds true for other meals as well.

kyook 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Jimbo, I agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly. In all the time that Sharis has been here, I went there once for a piece of pie and it sucked. I've had much better luck at Prospector Pies.

I've heard a lot of people rave about Sassys but I've never been. I'd like to go there for my bi-annual heart attack platter (sausage, eggs, hashbrowns & toast).