{"id":386243,"date":"2026-07-04T18:48:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T18:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386243\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T18:48:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T18:48:17","slug":"visalia-and-fresno-carls-jr-locations-shut-amid-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386243\/","title":{"rendered":"Visalia and Fresno Carl\u2019s Jr. locations shut amid changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A worker attacked a drive-thru menu board with a crowbar Thursday morning, removing the last bits of Carl\u2019s Jr. branding from the restaurant at First Street and Shaw Avenue.<\/p>\n

The restaurant closed Saturday.<\/p>\n

All its signs and branding have been removed. Only the star-shaped bones of the sign that once held Carl\u2019s Jr.\u2019s smiling logo remain.<\/p>\n

One of the fast-food restaurant\u2019s locations in Visalia, on Chinowth Street near Highway 198, has also closed.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear why.<\/p>\n

Tax records show the Fresno location is owned by TWM\/Fresno LLC, a franchisee. A woman who answered the phone at the company said no one was available to comment about the closure until next week.<\/p>\n

Carl\u2019s Jr. did not immediately return a message seeking comment about the closures.<\/p>\n

The company \u2013 known for its Western bacon cheeseburger and edgy ad campaigns \u2013 still has a strong presence in the Fresno area with 16 locations in Fresno and Clovis.<\/p>\n

It has two remaining restaurants in Visalia, and many more scattered around the central San Joaquin Valley.<\/p>\n

Fast-food restaurants are closing<\/p>\n

More Carl\u2019s Jr. locations are closing.<\/p>\n

The Carl\u2019s Jr. at Blackstone and McKinley avenues closed earlier (it was later destroyed by fire<\/a>). That closure stemmed from a city project using eminent domain<\/a> to funnel traffic below the train tracks for safety reasons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At least 10 of the Carl\u2019s Jr. locations, owned by a different franchisee, are slated for closure<\/a>, Fast Company reported in May. None are in the central San Joaquin Valley.<\/p>\n

The news about the underperforming locations surfaced in bankruptcy filings for the large franchisee, which is selling 49 of its locations,<\/a> mostly in Southern California.<\/p>\n

The company blamed its financial struggles on increased competition, rising operating costs, shrinking sales and California\u2019s $20 minimum wage for fast-food jobs, according to Fast Company.<\/p>\n

Several other fast-food restaurants in Fresno have closed in recent months.<\/p>\n

At least five KFC restaurants<\/a> have closed<\/a> since last year. Side-by-side KFC and Wendy\u2019s locations in downtown Fresno closed, but were quickly backfilled by locally owned restaurants<\/a> Smashville Burgers & Chicken and Aliberto\u2019s Jr Mexican Food.<\/p>\n

Starbucks closed four stores<\/a> in Fresno.<\/p>\n

Five Guys Burgers and Fries closed<\/a> its location at the Marketplace at El Paseo in December.<\/p>\n

Still, many chains are opening locations here too, including the new Chick-fil-A in Clovis<\/a> and at least two new Taco Bells<\/a> coming to the area.<\/p>\n

Chipotle is also planning new restaurants in Fresno<\/a> and Clovis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The The Carl\u2019s Jr. on Shaw Avenue and First Street is closed, all of its signs removed. Bethany Clough bclough@fresnobee.com
\n Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Bethany Clough<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Bethany Clough covers restaurants and retail for The Fresno Bee. A reporter for more than 20 years, she now works to answer readers\u2019 questions about business openings, closings and other business news. She has a degree in journalism from Syracuse University and her last name is pronounced Cluff.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A worker attacked a drive-thru menu board with a crowbar Thursday morning, removing the last bits of Carl\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-386243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}