Update: Shari’s Restaurants abruptly closes all Oregon locations
PORTLAND, Ore. (KGW/KTVZ) — Shari’s Restaurants abruptly closed all Oregon locations over the weekend. The Beaverton-based chain faced mounting financial problems, including eviction notices, unpaid bills and back taxes.
“I can confirm that at this time that all Oregon Shari's restaurants are closed,” Sam Borgese, CEO of Gather Holdings LLC, parent company of Shari’s Management Corporation, wrote to the Oregon Lottery in a Monday email obtained by KGW through a public records request.
Shari’s generated $34.7 million in video lottery sales in 2023, according to state records.
As KGW first reported in August, the beloved chain of family style restaurants faced mounting debt for unpaid rent, taxes and other bills.
READ MORE: Shari’s Restaurants faces financial problems: Unpaid bills, taxes, eviction notices
Nearly a dozen Shari’s restaurants in Oregon, Idaho and Washington have quietly closed over the past six months.
That includes the two in Bend, which closed Sunday, and the Redmond location, which closed last week.
Would-be diners were still showing up at the Bend restaurants on Monday, only to learn they had closed, for good.
Angel Hernandez said, "So we had lunch plans come to Shari's, and we came in, the doors were locked. Says restaurant closed. And usually they have good lunches, but not today. ”
Deb Melina, who managed the Shari’s restaurant on Northeast Airport Way in Portland, said, “We’ve been in hospice for months, and it was just dragged out to the very end.”
Melina said it was clear bills weren’t being paid. Trash piled up behind the restaurant after garbage service stopped. In the past month, Melina said food supplies were no longer being delivered on a regular basis.
“How do you open a restaurant when you have no eggs, no hash browns, no bacon, no ham?” asked Melina.
The store manager and other employees, desperate for basic ingredients, went to the grocery store so the restaurant could stay open, Melina explained.
“We did what we had to do,” said Melina.
Shari’s first opened in Hermiston in 1978. The family-style restaurant chain had more than 60 locations across Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho and Wyoming, according to the company’s website. The hexagonal or six-sided restaurants were known for their award-winning pies and late-night meals.
It’s not clear if any Shari’s restaurants remain open outside of Oregon. Management did not respond to KGW’s request for comment.
Like many restaurants, Shari’s struggled to recover after the pandemic.
“It was a good place to get a good, warm meal and some pie,” said Marianne Doyle, a longtime customer who found the restaurant in Northeast Portland closed on Monday. “That’s sad, but you know times change.”
