After almost 87 years in business, the White Castle located on Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights permanently closed its doors on Wednesday, Jan. 26.
The restaurant, located at 88-08 Northern Blvd., first opened on Aug. 1, 1935. According to Jamie Richardson, a vice president at White Castle, the Jackson Heights location has been struggling with sales.
“As a family-owned business that’s been around for 100 years, one of the things we’ve learned is that every Castle has different cost structures, challenges and opportunities,” Richardson said. “We reached a point with rising costs and increasing uncertainty as we continue to encounter the pandemic where we made the tough call to close this one location.”
White Castle, best known for its square-shaped sliders, has six other locations around Queens and does not plan to close any of the other stores. The employees at the Jackson Heights location have been offered ongoing employment with White Castle and are continuing to work at the nearby chains.
“Deciding to close a Castle is one of the toughest decisions we ever made,” Richardson said. “It’s an amazing feat in the restaurant world when any location, any type of cuisine, lasts 10 years or more. To have an over 86-year run from a fast food restaurant operating on the same corner is unheard of.”
Ultimately, Richardsons said that the decision came down to protecting their over 10,000 employees across 14 states.
“We do this because if we make good decisions we can invest in retirement programs for our team members, continue providing health insurance and all the other pay, perks and benefits that make White Castle a great place to work,” Richardson said.
