SEQUIM — Citing a bad economy that would only get worse during the winter months ahead, Dennis and Michelle Bush have closed their West Washington Street Arby’s franchise after a little more than three years in business.
“It was very heartbreaking,” said Dennis Bush, who owned the eatery at 540 W. Washington St. with his wife, Michelle.
“I had people coming in here crying, apologizing for not coming in here more often.”
On a high note, he said, they helped their remaining staff find jobs at other restaurants, including the Silverdale Arby’s.
There is no other Arby’s franchise restaurant on the North Olympic Peninsula.
He said he would have opened the store in fast-food-hungry Port Angeles had he had to do it all over again.
At its peak, the restaurant employed 35 people, he said.
“Our first year we opened, we did very well. It was phenomenal,” he said, adding that the restaurant was No. 1 last year for customer compliments sent in.
“But most of our customers were from out of state who were driving through.”
Then the economy went bad.
“Ninety-nine percent of it was the economy,” he said, with the past four months of business being the worst.
He said the Sequim area is saturated with some 30 restaurants.
Customers swarmed in to feed one last time at Arby’s on its final day Thursday, but the beef sandwich eatery closed that night with remaining employees securing the shop Friday turning customers away who ignored the “Out of Business” signs on the door.
The Bushes also posted a note on the front door thanking loyal customers who had “become friends.”
Dennis Bush said they tried to sell the franchise, but “nobody wants to come up here.”
The restaurant was the scene of several local fundraisers, including those for schools and nonprofit KSQM-FM radio.
He said Arby’s had nothing invested in the restaurant and was just earning a regular franchise percentage of the net sales.
It was not the couple’s first try in the restaurant business.
He said they owned three Round Table Pizza restaurants in California in the past.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.