{"id":295549,"date":"2026-07-14T16:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T16:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/295549\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T16:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T16:02:08","slug":"dairy-queens-the-latest-chain-to-close-stores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/295549\/","title":{"rendered":"Dairy Queen’s The Latest Chain To Close Stores"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last few years have been especially tough for restaurants everywhere, and not even the biggest fast food chains around have been safe. 2025 and 2026 have seen a slew of closures from the likes of Subway<\/a>, Wendy\u2019s<\/a>, and Pizza Hut<\/a>, with the latter ultimately changing hands in June following a sale by Yum! Brands. While some of these closures have been billed as brand repositioning, there\u2019s no denying that things feel more precarious than ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We got that feeling yet again this week, following the news that Dairy Queen has closed over 40 of its stores recently. Here\u2019s what we know.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dairy Queen Store Closures<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Parade<\/a> reported that more than 40 Dairy Queen locations have shut up shop over the last two years \u2013 and while this number is a mere fraction of its portfolio (the chain boasts well over 4,000 locations across the United States), it speaks to, perhaps, the slightly more tumultuous moment we find ourselves in. The few dozen Dairy Queen stores that have closed were primarily in Texas and Alaska, with several locations in the latter state doing so at the start of July. Anchorage Daily News<\/a> reports that restaurants in Anchorage, Wasilla and Palmer were all closed by their franchise owner, without any clear explanation \u2013 although the cost of shipping items to the state could have been a factor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These Alaska closures mark a reversal in the fortunes of the brand in the state, which just a few decades ago was on the way up. There\u2019s now only one location left in Alaska, in Soldotna. The Texas closures, meanwhile, took place in 2025, following a warning from the brand to the stores\u2019 franchise owners, stating that remodels would need to be completed if it was to continue operating.<\/p>\n

The Future Of Dairy Queen<\/p>\n

As mentioned, these closures are a drop in the ocean in terms of Dairy Queen\u2019s true size, and they\u2019re unlikely to have a significant impact on the restaurant\u2019s immediate future \u2013 particularly as it\u2019s announced plans to grow elsewhere. Just a few weeks ago, we reported on Dairy Queen\u2019s expansion to Puerto Rico<\/a>, with 20 restaurants set to open in the next 10 years. However, these closures do reflect a moment in fast food culture that feels especially rocky, and where once-successful franchise operations are now seemingly unable to keep up with modern operating costs. With the climate being more uncertain than ever, and food and transport prices not going down any time soon, further closures may lie ahead. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last few years have been especially tough for restaurants everywhere, and not even the biggest fast food…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-295549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}