Employees weren't notified ahead of time about the sudden closing. The restaurant employed 20. People have been dining at this location since 1964 when it started out as the locally-owned Idlenot Family Restaurant. The Friendly's chain took it over in 1986. Today a spokesperson for the chain would say only that the lease had expired.
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| Idlenot Restaurant, 1979 |
Everyone just back away from the ledge, here is a quick list of restaurants that still exist in Springfield, VT: 371, Black Rock, Springfield Diner, Riverside Restaurant, Lunch Box Cafe, Subway Pizza, Village Pizza, Chinese Food Place 1, Chinese Food Place 2, Perkins Deli, The Hole, 56 Main Street, Jennywren Cafe, Mcdonalds, and Subway (the chain one). I think we are going to be ok.
ReplyDeleteThis also might be another lesson in supporting a locally owned restaurant instead of a corporate one that has no ties to a community.
Speaking of no ties to the community......The Occupational Department Program at Spfld High School has had students placed in Friendlys for job training for years, but in the last 3 years when they were managed from "corporate" and managers changed every year, they no longer allowed us to bring our students to learn about restaurant work. Locals who worked there loved our kids and loved working with them but "Corporate" was no longer connected to our students' needs and no longer invested in any way with our school. Luckily Riverside Restaurant has become our new go to restaurant for training and Carl, one of the owners has been wonderful to our students. I love the locally owned and operated businesses in Spfld because they care about our kids and we have many students who have been hired by these businesses upon graduation!
DeleteExactly Anonymous!!
Delete56 main st is ok if you want to spend alot of money the hole is awesome and cheap
ReplyDeletelove the title
ReplyDeleteI think the sad part of this is, there are 20 "local" people out of a job....not that we are losing a "corporate" restaurant. It's also sad to see a long time landmark gone.....
ReplyDeleteSad, the plaza is going to look like a ghost town at this rate. Feel terrible for the employees too.
ReplyDeleteSpringfield is going down hill and FAST!!! It's horrible. I don't even want to live here or raise my kids here it's pathetic
DeleteYou are free to leave anytime.
DeleteThis is not about you and the fact that yu wll "be okay" because you can dine elsewhere. It is about 20 people who were suddenly and uncerimoniously let go from their jobs. Some of those people were longtime employees. It is about the economic times we live in and the effect soemthing like this has on a community. It is sickening actually.
ReplyDeleteSo many places are closing leaving ppl with no jobs or anything. We wonder y VT is number one in the US when it comes to ppl being on states assistance. We also wonder y there r so many drugs and drug dealers (I AM NOT SAYING ITS OK NOR DO I UPHOLD IT JUST MAKING A STATEMENT) in this town. All of our business's r shutting down leaving parents wether there r 2 parents or a single father/mother to raise their child(ren) on no income so they do what they have to do to keep their child(ren) fed, clothed, and clean. Granted there is assistance, but some ppl don't qualify and if they do yes its something but it's not always enough so they look for other ways to take care of their families and will go to any lenghts to do this. Again I don't agree with it but this would give some explination as to why the drugs and dealers have increased. Smh it's sad. Makes ppl not wanna live here and or raise their kids here :(
DeleteTwenty people who have bills to pay, families to support, now find themselves jobless without warning. Now they have to scramble to find a job in the depressed economy. What was corporate's reasoning behind leading these employees on?
ReplyDeleteThis is what happens when a Friendly's waitress gets a huge tip!
ReplyDeleteSeriously! Julie and Friendly's were just in the news, and it was such a positive story... Lots of high school students or recent graduates worked there, which was great. They seemed to have fun working there.
DeleteI feel bad for Mark he was our usual server . He put a smile on your face even if you were just walking by and he gave a wave. I wonder if there is anything we as a community can do for those that lost their jobs .
ReplyDeleteWe will give them unemployment benefits. Probably Young's wanted to up the rent in their run down plaza and Friendlys refused to pay it.
DeleteI think that if Young's wants to charge so much rent, they need to UPDATE the look of the plaza. It could use a major uplift!
DeleteIs that why they left? Can the Youngs do something positive for our community?
DeleteI heard through the grapevine, however true it may be that McDonald's back in the day signed with Young's that when the lease came up for that space they would have to raise the rent on the lease. If the current occupant (Friendly's in this case) decided not to renew, no other eating establishment may take over that space. Who ever drew up the McDonald's agreement back then was a fool...screwed the whole town. AGAIN...this is only what I have heard on the street..
ReplyDeleteI heard through the grapevine that pigs can fly and purple kangaroos live on mars...AGAIN...this is only what I have heard on the street.
DeleteI really never cared for friendly's but I do care about fellow working folks who received no notice they will be jobless......it really amazes me that companies have no respect for dedicated workers who kept an income coming into there establishment and they bail on them.....2 weeks pay is nothing in this economy......my thought and prayers go out to all those who worked there!
ReplyDeletethis has nothing to do with high taxes and VT being unfriendly to businesses is general. Got to save the trees.
ReplyDeletegotta thank the youngs for raising the rent, that's why they closed. why shop local when the locals force others to close
ReplyDeleteCould be a nice spot for a strip club! Between the old radio shack and friendly it be huge! I'm sure there's plenty of local talent available. Lol
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about a pawn shop, bail bonds and tattoo parlor all rolled up in one. Think of the business it would create. This is the perfect town for a pawn shop and bail bonds place. Like a little Detroit.
DeleteEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
DeleteAll great ideas. Keep them coming... A Hooters, perhaps?
Deleteobnoxious, rude and inconsiderate for the short notice to the employees.
ReplyDeleteYou don't think that these 20 people were given something, for their services? It may not be a whole lot, but it's something. And not to be rude to any of them but they work in the restaurant business, and there are OTHER restaurants in town, that may just be looking for help. It's not the end of the world. It just sucks that at this time, when jobs are low. But there are other options out there.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. This town is full of restaurants and I know there is always a 'help wanted' sign at 371 Rest. Yep, it stinks people lost their jobs but that happens every day. I am sure Friendly's compensated the workers they let go. Employment agency is right downtown and it is easy to apply for unemployment these days, you can do it right on line!
DeleteDunkin Donuts is always hiring too!
DeleteDD is opening another location in Springfield, on River Street. Two DDs, zero friendly's. It was a nice place to bring the kids to sit down for an ice cream after a baseball game.
Deleteno they were not givin a dam thing just a boot so know ur facts
DeleteHaven't you ever thought the reason why there always hiring I know ppl who worked at dnd and will never again
Deleteok so yes I understand that shopping local is a great thing and all but 90 percent of the business around here are never open on select days and times I mean really pizza places closes at 9 or even opens at 3 what kind of business does that, what ppl around hee don't realize is that with having big chain reatuants around here would build revenue and help out local shop not only that it would provide the locals with a job, instead of traveling 45 mins to get a restaurant ppl would come here and spend there money, this is a dying town that needs to be woken up a little stop living under the rock thinking that if we stay the same things will never change.
ReplyDeleteIt is not all about the job and the company for us.As much as it was the family we had all became there. Yes we may have not all gotten along or had the best of times. but over the past 20 years we have all gotten to know one another as family. it is about the memory`s we shared there. it is about when the ship's were Down there was someone always there to make it worth working there.when we woke up to go to work or it wasn't about oh I have to go to work. as much as it was working with the people we did doing what we had enjoyed. Serving the town of Springfield and making someone's day when we messed up the birthday song,seeing the kids reaction when they had a birthday,sharing your memory`s. getting to know all of you and it family's. all most all of you became apart of our family. Thank you for sharing so many special times with us and making the Friendlys staff apart of them.
ReplyDeleteMcMeenies vs Friendlys.
ReplyDeleteThe clown of the town wins.
Sad deal.
Be grateful that you still have a McDonald's given the economic trajectory of the town! Have heart though. Springfield and its backward thinkers will find a way to close them down too, eventually.
ReplyDeleteMONTPELIER — Citing a “full-blown heroin crisis” and dramatic increases in Vermonters addicted to opiates, Gov. Peter Shumlin used the entirety of his State of the State address Wednesday to focus on treating and curbing the abuse of prescription and illicit drugs.
ReplyDeleteThere you have it sports fans. Your clueless governor ignoring the economic plight of his state and his people and instead focusing on a problem of his own making and those like him. Let's see, what comes first, a loss of jobs due to an anemic economy that is ignored by lard butted politicians, or a "heroin epidemic" aided by an enabling political philosophy that coddles the drug users and abusers?
The blind voting for the blind. You got what you've been asking for since Kunin "transformed" Vermont's economy into a tourist based fiasco! And now here's little Shumey singing the song of lies and declaring "the state of Vermont to be strong" while he plots to waste more money on treating the cancer he and his ilk have created.
You can't make this stuff up!