Sour Economy Claims Local Eateries

If it seems as if you're running out of options for where to grab a lunch, that's because you are.

In the latest sign of a slowing economy in Highlands County, a few restaurant franchises have shut their doors or are planning to go out of business in the county. In at least one case, national cutbacks are also claiming a local eatery.

Firehouse Subs closed its Sebring restaurant last week. Quiznos shuttered its south Sebring location more than a month ago, and Starbucks included its Lakeshore Mall shop in a list of approximately 600 stores that it will shut down in the coming months.

The mural inside the Firehouse was already taken to Cape Coral, where someone would remove the Sebring Fire Department references and replace it with Cape Coral's, franchisee Bill Cork said Tuesday afternoon. He and two others were removing equipment from the now-former Sebring location, which opened Feb. 28, 2006. The Clermont resident now owns only one Firehouse in Lakeland.

"I had this store for sale for two years, and I couldn't find a buyer," he said.

The Starbucks at the Lakeshore Mall will eventually close as well, according to the company's Web page. Local Starbucks Manager Thomas Libby, who also manages the Shelby Crossing location, deferred comment to the corporate office.

Neither a Starbucks spokeswoman nor Lakeshore Mall Manager Jenny Cheek would provide a closing date for the store.

"Nothing is certain at this point," Cheek said. Even after being told by a Highlands Today reporter about the store's position on Starbucks' closure list, she further disputed whether it would close at all.

These closures came as some other restaurants closed for the traditionally slow summer season.

It's not as if all of the closing restaurants will leave a void. As Cork was taking out the counter at the former Firehouse, Zeno's Italian Restaurant owner Basil Makris was installing new tiles in the former Quiznos to start his second Zeno's. He said he was pushing for an Aug. 4 opening.

Margie Larkins, the Roadhouse Grill's head chef, saw the restaurant survive the franchiser's liquidation after it filed for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in May. According to a report in May from WPTV in West Palm Beach, Sebring's Roadhouse was one of three franchises in Florida to remain open after that liquidation, along with restaurants in Ocala and Winter Park.

She said the three remaining restaurants had since offered slightly different food despite sharing the same name and logos, but otherwise they're fine.

"We're here to stay. We're not going anywhere," Larkins said.