{"id":246514,"date":"2026-04-25T19:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T19:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/246514\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T19:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T19:30:14","slug":"two-skyline-locations-in-south-florida-close-down-after-nearly-four-decades-in-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/246514\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Skyline locations in south Florida close down after nearly four decades in business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBEFORE. TEXT THAT IS NOT LEGIBLE IS ALSO SOMETHING TO LOOK OUT FOR AND UNREALISTIC SHADOWS. ALSO NEW ON WLWT TONIGHT. DID YOU SEE THIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA? MOVIE STAR SARAH JESSICA PARKER SAYS SHE\u2019S MISSING SKYLINE CHILI. YEAH, THE CINCINNATI NATIVE POSTING THIS COMMENT HERE UNDER A VIDEO OF SKYLINE CEO EATING A CONEY. IT\u2019S ALL PART OF A SOCIAL MEDIA TREND OF EXECUTIVES EATING THEIR OWN RESTAURANT\u2019S FOOD, BUT ALSO SKYLINES, PROMOTING ITS FREE CONE DAY NEXT THURSDAY ON OPENING DAY, SARAH JESSICA WRITING HOW COULD YOU NOT CRUSH A THREE WAY? I WOULD HAVE FLOWN TO CINCINNATI FOR A FREE CONEY IF I COULD. I MISS SKYLINE CHILI EVERY DAY. SKYLINE SAW HER COMMENT AND REPLIED BACK, SAYING THEY WILL BE PATIENTLY WAITING FOR HER NEXT VISIT. WILLIAMS IS SO MUCH FUN. I DID THE THE CHICKEN DANCE LAST YEAR WITH HIM AND YOU KNOW, HE HE\u2019S SUCH A GREAT REPRESENTATIVE FOR ANY COMPANY, BUT SPECIFICALLY CINCINNATI SKYLINE CHILI BECAUSE HE\u2019S JUST ALL INTO IT. AND THEN TO SEE THAT SARAH JESSICA RESPONDED WAS PRETTY COOL. SHEREE SHE SINGS CINCINNATI\u2019S PRAISES. THERE\u2019S THIS PODCAST. IT\u2019S IT\u2019S A MILLENNIAL PODCAST. AND THIS IS LIKE 3 OR 4 MONTHS AGO. I\u2019M JUST RANDOMLY LISTENING TO IT, AND SHE JUST STARTS GOING ON ABOUT HOW MUCH SHE LOVES CINCINNATI. SHE\u2019S LIKE, IT\u2019S BEAUTIFUL. THE HILLS, THE NEIGHBORHOODS. I\u2019M LIKE, THANK YOU FOR RECOGNIZING OUR AWESOMENESS. YEAH. WELL, SHE, I THINK IF I UNDERSTAND RIGHT, GOT HER START AT THE SCHOOL FOR CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS. SO OF COURSE IT\u2019S NEAR AND DEAR TO HER HEART. I JUST WISH SHE WOULD DO AN INTERVIEW WITH US. HEY, WE\u2019VE REQUESTED ONE BEFORE, AND SHE\u2019S RIGHT HERE. DON\u2019T FORGET ABOUT US LITTLE PEOPLE HERE. ALL RIGHT? I FEEL LIKE WE. I SWEAR WE DID NOT TALK TODAY. I DIDN\u2019T EVEN REALLY KNOW MEGAN WAS GOING TO BE IN FOR THE EVENING SHIFT. AND LOOK AT US. IT\u2019S LIKE WE CLEARLY WERE THINKING SUNSHINE TODAY. WHAT DID I SAY? WE\u2019RE MANIFESTING. WE\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Two Skyline locations in south Florida close down after nearly four decades in business<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768840988_181_wlwt.png\" class=\"lazyload lazyload-in-view branding\" alt=\"WLWT logo\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tUpdated: 3:03 PM EDT Apr 25, 2026\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wlwt.com\/article\/hearst-television-news-policy-statements\/14471973\" class=\"editorial-standards border-left\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Editorial Standards \u24d8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTwo longtime Skyline Chili locations that were popular with Greater Cincinnati vacationers in Florida have closed.The Skyline restaurants within the cities of Fort Myers and Naples both permanently shut their doors earlier this week, according to a social media post by owner Gates Rodenfels on April 21.&#8221;After 38 years of selling Skyline Chili, we are now officially CLOSED,&#8221; wrote Rodenfels. &#8220;Thank you SW Florida for all the years of some really great memories.&#8221;Skyline&#8217;s online store locator has since listed both stores as being &#8220;permanently closed.&#8221;Both were the only two actively operating Skyline restaurant locations in southwest Florida. Despite this, four other stores remain in operation in other parts of Florida. This includes locations in Clearwater (near St. Petersburg), Winter Garden (near Orlando), Sunrise (near Fort Lauderdale), and Lakewood Ranch (near Sarasota).Florida is the only state other than Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana that the restaurant chain maintains locations.Despite this, the iconic Cincinnati chain only continues to expand at home within the Tri-State, with the company set to open its newest location on Fountain Square this summer.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Two longtime Skyline Chili locations that were popular with Greater Cincinnati vacationers in Florida have closed.<\/p>\n<p>The Skyline restaurants within the cities of Fort Myers and Naples both permanently shut their doors earlier this week, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gates.rodenfels\/posts\/pfbid022o4qVRAxNr7jbBP3dTfm3strE9UrZMj9LTbLSChZcahVoYmfnMuhZmKSa6Pc2J6Gl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">according to a social media post by owner Gates Rodenfels<\/a> on April 21.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;After 38 years of selling Skyline Chili, we are now officially CLOSED,&#8221; wrote Rodenfels. &#8220;Thank you SW Florida for all the years of some really great memories.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Skyline&#8217;s online store locator has since listed both stores as being &#8220;permanently closed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Both were the only two actively operating Skyline restaurant locations in southwest Florida. Despite this, four other stores remain in operation in other parts of Florida. This includes locations in Clearwater (near St. Petersburg), Winter Garden (near Orlando), Sunrise (near Fort Lauderdale), and Lakewood Ranch (near Sarasota).<\/p>\n<p>Florida is the only state other than Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana that the restaurant chain maintains locations.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, the iconic Cincinnati chain only continues to expand at home within the Tri-State, with the company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wlwt.com\/article\/skyline-chili-fountain-square-location-2026-delay-spring-summer\/71095639\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">set to open its newest location on Fountain Square this summer.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEFORE. TEXT THAT IS NOT LEGIBLE IS ALSO SOMETHING TO LOOK OUT FOR AND UNREALISTIC SHADOWS. ALSO NEW&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[558,30339,28,30,29,897,3156,60,108369,108370,10154,67912,108372,108371,108368,8529,164],"class_list":["post-246514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-business","tag-decade","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-fort-myers","tag-indiana","tag-kentucky","tag-longtime-skyline-chili-location","tag-near-fort-lauderdale","tag-ohio","tag-other-part","tag-owner-gates-rodenfels","tag-restaurant-chain","tag-skyline-location","tag-store","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}