MARCO’S PIZZA SHUTS DOWN SHOPS IN XENIA, KETTERING

Chain still operates nine stores in area ranging from Troy to Monroe.

Marco’s Pizza has shut down two of its 11 pizza shops in the Miami Valley.

Customers of the Marco’s Pizza carryout restaurant at 5860 Bigger Road in south Kettering encountered a sign earlier this week announcing the shutdown, and a phone message alerts customers that an East Main Street location in Xenia also has closed.

“It is with great regret that we announce the closure” of the restaurant, the sign posted on the Kettering Marco’s Pizza shop said. “We at this location have served some of the most loyal and local customers.”

This is the second restaurant closure along the south Kettering stretch of Bigger Road in two months. Shantz Express closed its doors in October. But the neighborhood also has added a new restaurant, Thai Street Noodles, which opened less than two weeks ago at 5844 Bigger Road, and it is home to the always-bustling Seajax Tavern.

“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by the closing of this location, but this isn’t the end,” store officials wrote on the sign. “Marco’s Pizza will continue to serve and deliver at our Smithville (Road) location.”

When callers attempt to reach the Xenia Marco’s Pizza restaurant at 281 E. Main St., they are greeted by a recorded message that says, “We apologize, but our location is no longer open for business.” It was not immediately clear when the Xenia store shut down.

An employee of the store at 2400 S. Smithville Road on the northern Kettering border confirmed that his shop is now serving most of the territory previously served by the Bigger Road store, and said all employees of the south Kettering store were offered positions at other Marco’s Pizza locations.

This news outlet reached out to a district supervisor for Marco’s Pizza on Tuesday, and to a spokeswoman for Marco’s Pizza franchise operations Thursday

morning but received no response.

Toledo-based Marco’s Pizza, founded in 1978, still operates nine pizza shops in the Miami Valley, stretching from Troy to Monroe. The chain added three stores in the area in 2015, including the Smithville Road location, which replaced a Marco’s location in the Breitenstrater Square Shopping Center on Patterson Road in Dayton.