By:Jeff Lipton
Owners of Friendly's in Woodmere recently auctioned off their booths, chairs and tables, soda fountains, grills and ice-cream machines and quietly left the neighborhood, thus ending a nearly three-decade run in the Five Towns.
The family-geared restaurant officially closed Jan. 19, catching local residents and long-time patrons off guard, because it has been a longstanding institution in the neighborhood since it opened in May 1973. The items were auctioned off in mid-February.
"I have been going to Friendly's for years," Ronald Weinfeld said of the Woodmere restaurant. "One day I see it closed, and I was curious to see if that was the only one closed.
"I was going there periodically," he added. "They were selling coupon books and my wife bought one that she can't use now, for Easter Seals charity."
Last March, Massachusetts-based Friendly's announced that it would immediately close 80 under-performing company-owned restaurants, including one each in Lynbrook and East Rockaway, and shut another 70 over the next two years. Since then, another 40 to 45 have been shut down. Significantly lagging sales and profits was the reason given for the closings. The move is aimed at strengthening Friendly Ice Cream Corporation's core restaurant business. At the time, the company also announced a reorganization of the company's field and headquarters organization designed to properly service and support the needs of the remaining restaurants.
"It is always a tough business decision," Maura Tobias, a Friendly's spokesperson, said of closing a shop. "But it was one of our under-performing restaurants. It has not always been that way."
She said the Woodmere restaurant could seat 65 people, far shy of the 170 patrons accommodated by the typical Friendly's. She added that of the 16 employees who worked in the Woodmere Friendly's, 12 were transferred to the one in Franklin Square about six miles away. The four other employees balked at the transfers, for transportation reasons.
Patrons said they were surprised that Friendly's did not alert customers it was leaving Woodmere. Tobias said the restaurant chain and others like it typically give no hint of closing because "we want to make sure we service guests until we are actually closed."
The chain still operates more than 40 Friendly's on Long Island. "It's not like we're totally pulling out of the area," Tobias said.
Weinfeld said it is just one more neighborhood landmark that has left the area. He and other neighborhood residents were still reeling from the closing of Loews Lawrence Triplex movie house on Rockaway Turnpike in October 2000, after three decades in operation. Loews Cineplex recently filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, protecting the movie chain from creditors. Loews is now in negotiations with creditors and investors in a buyout plan.
Sy Glass, president of the Woodmere Merchants Association, said he was sad to see Friendly's go but delighted that a group of doctors has purchased the building and surrounding property and will be moving in shortly. "This is absolutely good," Glass said. "We don't have any empty buildings. Everything is being grabbed up over here."
Glass said he knew the ice-cream parlor wasn't doing well. "I would have liked there to continue to be an ice-cream place there for people and kids. It served a purpose over there."
But he knew that it wouldn't be long before the property would be sold. "That's a nice property with a big parking lot."
It's also a property on the border of Hewlett and Woodmere. Joe Gelb, president of the Hewlett Business Association, said he never likes to see a store close, but didn't see a harmful effect to Hewlett this time.
Friendly's, he said, failed to "keep up with the times." While other fast-food and restaurant chains were catering to customers by coming up with new food ideas and gimmicks, he said Friendly's has stood pat and is losing out competitively.
Tobias, however, said the restaurant chain has been competing with other casual, family-oriented full-service restaurants by coming out with two new menus.
Friendly's was founded in July 18, 1935 as a local ice-cream shop in Springfield, Mass., and eventually grew into a full-service restaurant chain, operating in 17 states, with about 440 company-owned and 122 franchised restaurants.
