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Western Sizzlin to close after 31 years

By Mark Harrison
The Times-Journal

Published February 3, 2010

After Sunday, Fort Payne’s Western Sizzlin steakhouse will be…well, done.

The Fort Payne landmark will close this weekend, at least temporarily – and the city will also soon have one fewer video rental store.

Western Sizzlin will close, bringing an end to a restaurant that has operated in Fort Payne for 31 years.

Pat Vezertzis, who owns the local franchise, said he plans to re-open the restaurant later, but it will no longer operate as Western Sizzlin. He said he plans to re-open at the same location with a different franchise, within three to six months. It remains uncertain, at this time, whether the restaurant will re-open as a steak house.

“One of our options is to re-open as a steak place of some kind, but we don’t know what we’re going to do just yet,” he said. “We’re looking at different franchises and exploring our options.”

Vezertzis said a deal to sell the franchise fell through earlier this week – and that, combined with economic factors impacting the restaurant – forced the closure.

He said a recent economic downturn led to a reduction in the restaurant’s business, especially in regard to catering.

“We had hoped this day would never come as far as our business goes,” Vezertzis said.

He said some Western Sizzlin employees would be moved temporarily to Golden Rule Barbecue, another local restaurant on which he also holds the franchise, and all former Western Sizzlin employees would be offered jobs later at whatever restaurant re-opens at the Western Sizzlin site.

Vezertzis said the building would be remodeled in the meantime.

Western Sizzlin contains several meeting rooms that are used on a regular basis by a variety of DeKalb County civic and interest groups, including the local Optimist Club, Rotary Club, Lions Club, Kiwanis, Shriners and both Democratic and Republican political groups.

Vezertzis said there are about 35 groups that currently use the meeting rooms. He said the bulk of those groups would be able to temporarily use meeting rooms at Golden Rule and off-site catering could be provided to larger groups at the Western Sizzlin building, if necessary.

He said the remodeling would not impact the meeting rooms, which he plans to maintain as part of the restructured restaurant. At one point, Vezertzis also owned or co-owned Western Sizzlin franchises in both Scottsboro and Rainbow City, but sold both some time ago.

Another Fort Payne business scheduled to close soon, and not later re-open, is Hollywood Video.

An employee with company said Wednesday that the video rental store would close permanently, likely sometime within the next three weeks. Movie Gallery Inc., the parent company for Hollywood Video, announced Wednesday that it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a reorganization of business operations.

According to a written statement released by Hollywood Video, the restructuring includes “the immediate liquidation and closure of about 760 stores in the United States.” The company also anticipates closing additional stores during the Chapter 11 process.

The Movie Gallery employee said there are no plans, at this time, to also shut down the Fort Payne Movie Gallery, which will be the city’s only remaining video rental store once Hollywood Video shuts down.

The statement released by the company reads, in part, “Over the past two years, Movie Gallery took a number of steps to respond to its business challenges and position the company for future success, including closing several hundred underperforming stores across the country; however, these actions were not sufficient.

“After consideration of all available alternatives, the company determined that a Chapter 11 filing was the appropriate next step in its ongoing restructuring. Movie Gallery’s goal is to emerge from the restructuring process with a new and sustainable business model centered on a smaller base of profitable stores.”

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