Exit 122 Wendy’s joins nationwide closures
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The Wendy’s restaurant on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard in Clinton is shown here after it was permanently closed on Dec. 22. - G. Chambers Williams III
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This handwritten sign proclaiming “We are closed for good” was posted at the top of the drive-through ordering speaker system at the Clinton Wendy’s restaurant on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard for would-be customers to see. The menu boards were turned to the side. - G. Chambers Williams III
Just four years after undergoing a $312,000 remodeling, the Wendy’s restaurant just off Interstate 75, Exit 122, in Clinton has been permanently closed.
Company officials at the site, 2240 N. Charles G. Seivers Blvd., told The Courier News on Monday, Dec. 22, that the store had shut down the previous Friday, Dec. 19, and would not be reopened.
A hand-lettered sign taped to the drive-through line ordering speaker read, “We Are Closed for Good,” and the menu boards were turned sideways out of view of approaching vehicles.
When asked why the restaurant closed, a woman in the store Monday who identified herself only as a Wendy’s manager from another store replied: “There is another location just eight minutes down the road.”
•o employees were laid off, she added – all were offered positions at other locations in the area.
The nearby store she was referring is the second Clinton Wendy’s, at 400 S. Charles G. Seivers Blvd., which opened Dec. 1, 2021, on the former site of the Clinton Christian Church, catercorner across the intersection from the McDonald’s restaurant just south of the Lewallen Bridge.
Clinton also has two McDonald’s and two Burger King restaurants in the same areas as the two Wendy’s, and both of those remain open and always seem to be busy.
What the Wendy’s manager did not mention is that Wendy’s corporate officials had announced in late November that the company would be closing “hundreds of underperforming” U.S. locations starting late this year and extending into 2026.
The Dublin, Ohio-based company cited the recent poor economy and spending cutbacks by low-income consumers that they said have been hurting fast-food restaurant sales.
Ken Cook, Wendy’s interim chief-executive officer, said in a November investor call that the company would close a “mid-single-digit percentage” of its 6,011 locations – or about 240-360 stores.
That’s in addition to 140 locations whose closings were announced in late 2024.
While no list of locations to be closed has been released by Wenday’s, five Knoxville locations have already been closed, reports say.