McDonald’s shutters iconic Times Square location forever

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(C) Reuters. Workers remove a sign from a permanently closed McDonald’s restaurant in Times Square in New York

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By Hilary Russ

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The bright lights on McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) old Times Square location in New York City have dimmed forever as the burger chain focuses on its newer flagship location up the street.

The old location on 42nd Street was hard to miss, with an old-school Broadway-style marquee emblazoned with row upon row of light bulbs.

The closing had been planned before the coronavirus pandemic hit, the company said. The New York Post first reported the closure late Tuesday night.

The coronavirus outbreak has shuttered restaurants globally and prompted some big brands to rethink how they approach real estate in order to get food to people as quickly and with as little direct contact as possible.

Closing the 42nd Street location was “a difficult decision,” the company said in a statement. But McDonald’s opened a new, three-story flagship restaurant nearby on 45th and Broadway last year. Both are company-owned locations.

“McDonald’s reviews its restaurant portfolio on a regular basis to make the best decisions for our business moving forward,” the company said in a statement.