Applebee’s Closing Locations, But Is Yakima Safe? Yes & Here’s Why!

We recently wrote about a popular chain with numerous locations in Washington that was set to close some of its doors.

The chain in question was Applebee’s, which got many in the Yakima Valley asking about the fate of our location.

Dine Brands Global (the parent company of Applebee’s and IHOP) announced that it will be closing restaurants nationwide throughout the rest of this year (according to Today.com).

Which Applebee’s Will Be Closing?

There are 40 Applebee locations in Washington (according to their website), including our very own at 1505 E Washington Ave. in Union Gap.

As of this writing, Dine Brands Global has not publicly announced which locations will be shuttered.

With other restaurant chains abruptly closing their doors throughout the United States (Outback closing all of its Hawaii locations, for example), some of the factors in the decision for those locations were how active/profitable a location was and leases on the buildings.

That brings us back to the question…

Is the Yakima Valley Applebee’s safe from closing down?

If I were a betting man, I’d say it’s a safe bet that Applebee’s will continue to be good in the Yakima Valley Neighborhood for a while.

Two reasons for that:

1 - The closest location to us (other than the Union Gap restaurant) is roughly an 80-minute drive.

2 – They just did an extensive renovation on our location!

It is unlikely that the company would have spent money sprucing up the place if the building’s lease was going to be up soon.

And with other locations over an hour away, they have no risk of overcrowding our market.

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