College Park’s Applebee’s has shut its doors, a victim of changing millennial tastes in restaurants and looming redevelopment along Route 1.
A sign recently went up saying the chain restaurant was now closed and promoting its location in Laurel, also on Baltimore Avenue.
College Park Planning Director Terry Schum told the Hyattsville Wire that the city was surprised by the closure. Applebee’s still had about a year on its lease on the building, which was slated to be part of a second phase of a $140 million redevelopment project on the former sites of Quality Inn, Plato’s Diner and a FedEx Kinko’s nearby.
Designs for that project have already been approved, so developers would either have to restart the permitting process or hold off on the portion that involves the Applebee’s site.
“We’re really curious about what’s going on,” Schum said.
Applebee’s has also shuttered restaurants across the country in recent years. The fast-casual dining chain has attempted to rebrand itself in recent years to attract a younger demographic with dishes like chicken wonton tacos. But sales have been down among millennials with more discriminating palates.
That’s especially rough in College Park, where a large part of the customer base is students at the University of Maryland and their parents.
But while fewer people are eating at Applebee’s, College Park’s dining scene has grown more diverse, even among fast-casual chains.
Among local chain restaurants, there’s the newly opened Mediterranean cuisine at Cava, Persian cuisine at Moby Dick, Hawaiian poke at Poki District, Vietnamese fusion at The Red Boat, Korean streetfare at SeoulSpice and authentic Mexican tacos at the upcoming Taqueria Habanero.
And that’s not to mention Nando’s, a South African chain; Taiwanese bubble tea chain Gong Cha and the recently opened pan-Asian Ten Asian Food Hall.
I never had a problem with their menu so much as their prices and service. This location was pretty bad in terms of the latter. Then again, I’m just one generation before the millennials, and maybe I don’t have to feel so guilty for their closing. ?
The food here was just terrible
Anthony, YOU are just terrible 🙂
Wow very surprised. Neighborhood home town restaurant is closed. Staff there will be missed. Food was great, reasonably priced and gonna miss those half priced appetizers too.
Sorry Anthony, but I am going to have to agree with Allan on this one. The Apple of legend will not sour in our hearts. Times of yor will not be forgot, long after thy Apple rot. Our cups overflowith with spirits as did the boothes. Hightops aplenty for all to be merry. Townies were not so scary. You shall bee missed.
Infested with roaches
I stopped going after being served over cooked pasta, which was literally mushy. After bringing it to the attention of the server to see if the “cook” would redo the dish, I was informed that it could not happen.
I love Applebees but I came here with my pudding pie on Valentines Day and were disrespected. We were told we’d be reimbursed and given gift cards at got none. Literally the worst Applebees I’ve ever been too and I love and live by them and have gone to over 69 of them.
“VICTIM of changing millennial tastes” sorry we like food that isn’t microwaved?
Not changing tastes as much as the service was absolutely horrific. Not surprised they went under
Same as that S**t-show that was Plato’s. Good riddance.
It’s been over a year since we last hit the Applebee’s that was on Rt. 1 in College Park. The food and service had dropped significantly as well as the cleanliness of the place. There was food all over the floor and it wasn’t like there were lots of little kids in the joint. Nasty adults, (servers and patrons) and the drinks left a lot to be desired.
Oh please, don’t blame the millennials. This closure is clearly not their fault, nor is it the fault of any age group. That location was a meeting place for a group of my friends to get together for lunch. The past three times we were there, there was only one wait staff person working. Customers had to wait 15 to 20 minutes before their order was taken, and because there was only one person taking care of all the customers, consequently the food was cold, and orders were wrong. I believe they either knew ahead of time that they were closing, so they did not make any adjustments to correct their problems, or else management was just sub par, causing the failure.