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Celina Burger King, located at 203 East Market St., closed for good at midnight Sunday.
CELINA - Burger King abruptly closed its doors for good at the stroke of midnight Monday, becoming Celina's second fast-food restaurant casualty in four months.
Posted on the door of the restaurant at 203 E. Market St. was a sign stating the site would be shutting down permanently after close on Sunday "due to unforeseen circumstances," advising customers to visit one of the neighboring Burger King restaurants in Van Wert, Wapakoneta or Greenville.
The announcement of Burger King's closure was made in the same way as that of Wendy's restaurant at the end of May. Affixed to the entrance door and drive-thru menu board of the now defunct Wendy's was a sign thanking customers for "years of support" and stating that the location is permanently closed.
News of the closure of Burger King, which had operated in Celina for nearly three decades, came as a surprise to Mayor Jeff Hazel, who said the city had not been previously informed about its pending shuttering.
The restaurant is owned by ARC BKMST41001 LLC, a foreign limited liability company, according to the Ohio Secretary of State's website.
A note taped to the door of the Celina Burger King announced the closing.
"It's kind of like Wendy's too - all of a sudden they're closed," Hazel told The Daily Standard. "I think they'd been struggling for a while … but I think it was a corporate decision."
Asked if the closing of two long-running burger joints in Celina in four months is cause for concern about the local economy, Hazel said multiple factors might have played a part in the restaurants' downfalls.
Among them are the persistent difficulty of finding and retaining staff, especially in a county with a perennially low unemployment rate.
"It's certainly disheartening to see them closed," he said. "I appreciate both the Wendy's corporation and Burger King corporation. I do know that locally they did struggle to get sufficient help on employment."
With the price of many goods and services remaining stubbornly high, consumers may have become more prudent in their spending.
"Both Burger King and certainly Wendy's, I think that they did have value for the products they have … but sometimes those dollars don't stretch as far for people going out, particularly with the increases in prices, property taxes," Hazel said. "I think there's a number of elements and sometimes people's buying power does not equal the pace of inflation."
Hazel, who is also the owner/operator of Hazelnut, acknowledged that some local restaurant owners are feeling the squeeze of President Donald Trump's tariffs.
"I've been hit with tariffs because of coffee beans," he said. "The other restaurants are also seeing some significant increases anywhere from probably 10-40% of tariffs that come on those goods."
Business owners can eat only so much of the tariff costs.
"You try to mitigate that increase by how you're serving what you're serving," Hazel said. "So there are certainly price increases that have occurred in several of the restaurants."
Even so, some restaurateurs are keeping their heads above water.
"From my knowledge, I've talked to the Boardwalk folks, I've talked to several others that they've been holding their own," Hazel noted.
Speaking to the state of the local economy, Mercer County Auditor Jeff Larmore pointed out that sales tax receipts up to this point are similar to those posted during the same time last year.
"The sales tax right now is hanging right in there," Larmore said. "One time we'll check it and it's up a tad, the next time it's down just a tad."
There could be numerous reasons behind the shuttering of the two fast-food restaurants, including inflation, staffing difficulties and location, Larmore said.
"I really don't know why these restaurants are closing. Burger King has struggled for a while, and it might have been just location," Larmore said. "Everybody wants to be out there on the highway per se."
Larmore pointed to Bob Evans and Dairy Queen as two businesses that found success relocating to the bustling Havemann Road retail sector, home to Walmart, Menards, Marshalls and several restaurants.
Downtown Celina, too, has become a dining hot spot with numerous eateries having taken hold.
"You go down on Main Street, and now you've got some really nice restaurants," Larmore said. "Those people are excelling, and I think between that and then what Randy Bruns and the Bruns boys did out there at the (Boardwalk) … that's drawing out-of-town people … because they have places where they can sit down, have a cocktail and eat."
