Sonic, Friendly’s restaurants shut down

TOWN OF ULSTER » The town’s busy commercial district has lost two restaurants — Friendly’s, a longtime staple on the Ulster Avenue strip, and Sonic, a burger drive-in on Miron Lane that opened only five years ago.

At the Sonic site, near ShopRite, all of the menu signs were gone from the car hop ordering stations on Thursday, and the Sonic sign had been removed f rom the building. At Friendly’s, less than a mile away, a paper sign posted in the door said “Sorry, we are closed.”

Sonic spokesman Patrick Lenow said the Miron Lane location was run as a franchise and that he did not know why it closed. He also did not know the name of the franchisee.

“With over 3,500 locations, opening and closings are a normal part of the business,” Lenow said. “Generally, more open than close.”

He said that in a typical year, 2 percent of Sonic’s locations close. He said some later “reopen under a different franchisee.”

The Sonic on Miron Lane opened in the spring of 2009 and was the first in New York state. Accord- ing to the chain’s website, a Sonic location continues to operate in Wappingers Falls, in southern Dutchess County.

The Friendly’s that operated between the entrances of Hudson Valley Plaza and Hudson Valley Mall was owned by a Long Islandbased franchisee called J&B Restaurant Partners, a representative for the company said.

Dawn Petite said in an email that the Ulster location closed on Sept. 9, but she declined to elaborate.

“I am sorry, but J&B does not comment on these types of issues,” she wrote.

The Kingston area now has lost three Friendly’s restaurants in recent years, and none remains. The others were on Washington Avenue in Kingston and inside Hudson Valley Mall in the town of Ulster.

The nearest remaining Friendly’s are in Albany and Middletown, according to the chain’s website.

Friendly’s, based in Wilbraham, Mass., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2011 and exited Chapter 11 in early 2012, according to the New

Haven Register.

A 2011, The Associated Press reported the bankruptcy filing resulted in 63 Friendly’s restaurants being closed and 1,260 employees losing their jobs.

BRIAN HUBERT — DAILY FREEMAN An empty parking lot Thursday at Friendly’s on Ulster Avenue is evidence of the restaurant’s closing. At right, a coiled wire sits on the pavement outside the former Sonic drive-in restaurant on Miron Lane.