Let me ask you something. When was the last time you saw an abandoned McDonald’s?
I learned from an industry insider that McDonald’s corporate policy is to demolish a closed store as soon as possible, in order to not damage the brand name.
But in a twist of fate, due to this McDonald’s being attached to a Circle K convenience store, demolition has not yet come to this one.
Now, an abandoned Jack in the Box, there’s nothing shocking about that.
There was an abandoned McDonald’s in Arnold, MO at the intersection of 231 and 61/67 for a number of years. It too, was attached to a C-store. It has since been converted to an A&W.
Ah, interesting! I suspect that is the only way closed McDonald’s survive!
I see an abandoned McDonald’s quite often near where I live (not in the St. Louis area). I believe it was built in the 80s and shuttered about five years ago. It had not been remodeled, so retains the “classic” form that Millennials and the like would be nostalgic for from their childhood. It has not been demolished because it is located in a larger shopping center’s parking lot, along the street frontage. McDonald’s does not and never did own that plot of land and presumably had no agreement in place to demolish the building when they left. Unlike your examples, it is not in poor condition; the shopping center owner keeps the building and landscaping maintained. It was also painted and re-roofed a short time after McDonald’s left, but the pandemic likely scuppered plans to put another restaurant tenant in that building.
I agree though, especially with newer McDonald’s buildings, you rarely see them either abandoned or repurposed for other restaurants. It’s not like those classic old Pizza Huts from a few decades ago, of which there are innumerable examples around the country housing independent restaurants of all cuisines under that iconic Pizza Hut roof.
Oh yeah, I see repurposed Pizza all over the place!