Popular fast-food chicken restaurant abruptly closes in Springfield

A popular fast-food chicken restaurant may have left the Springfield area for good.

The Kentucky Fried Chicken located at 3150 S. Sixth St. abruptly closed Monday night.

More: Food inspectors find cockroaches, mouse droppings and mold in Springfield restaurants

“We want to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for your loyal support over the years. It is with mixed emotions that we announce the closure of our store,” a sign posted on the restaurant door said. “We understand this news may come as a surprise, but we feel it is the right decision for us at this time. We want to thank each and every one of you for your continued patience and understand during this transition period. Your support has meant the world to us, and we are truly grateful for all the memories we have shared with you.”

Buckets still filled with water and cleaning fluid could be seen inside the store Tuesday morning with the cash register bar covered with boxes and ready-to-go chicken buckets, a vacuum cleaner dropped to the ground beside the counter.

Yum, the parent company who owns the KFC on South Sixth Street, seemingly packed up across the state, confirming closures at all five of its Peoria-area locations and all three of its Rockford-area locations.

“We can confirm that some KFC locations in the area have closed," a spokesperson told The Peoria Journal Star. "The decision to close a restaurant is always difficult for both the franchisee and the brand. We appreciate the patronage of our loyal guests.”

Springfield's two other KFC locations have been temporarily closed. It's unclear if either location on West Jefferson or North Ninth streets will reopen.

EYM Chicken Operations owns several other KFC locations in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, making up the roughly 150 locations across the state.

Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for The State Journal-Register. She can be reached at CLGrant@gannett.com; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Popular fast-food chicken restaurant abruptly closes in Springfield