The Houlihan’s Cherry Hill restaurant at the Garden State Park shopping center on Rt 70 closed abruptly today. Houlihan’s sat along Route 70, in the popular “Wegmans” shopping Center.
Employees were just told this morning.
A sign is hanging on the window announcing the permanent closure of the Cherry Hill restaurant.
I was already Out somewhat in the area working other stories when a good friend alerted me that they heard the restaurant closed today. (Friend had seen it posted at “What’s Up in Cherry Hill (OFFICIAL) ” Facebook group.)
I was able to adjust my plans and drive over to Houlihan’s immediately.
When I arrived at 3:30 PM Saturday I could see two large U-Haul trucks were already at the side door, and employees were loading inventory such as alcohol onto the trucks.
After taking a few photos I walked around the side to chat with people there, just as the first truck was pulling away.
It worked out that I reached the employees in the short gap as they waited for the next truck to move into position.
They had carts with them loaded up with alcohol, to be loaded onto the next truck. Presumably to be transferred to one of the other locations.
I had a chance to ask when the employees were told the restaurant was closing, and the response was “just this morning”.
So in one day they announced the closing to the employees in the morning, put the sign on the front window announcing the closing to customers, and just hours later trucks were already there to empty out the contents of the restaurant.
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Houlihan’s Sign on the Door
The sign on the front door is nicely prepared with the Houlihan’s logo on top.
Directly below the logo in bold lettering are the crisp and clear words, We’re Closed
The letter’s full comments:
We’re Closed
We are deeply saddened to announce the permanent closure of this location.
We value our employees, their dedication to the company and we are working to relocate them immediately to one of our locations nearby. We are grateful for the support of our community and encourage local patrons to visit our closest location in brick Township,
Houlihan’s Cherry Hill, Front door sign announcing the closing
While they’ve done a good job to explain as much as they can in the front door letter to customers and others, you can’t help but recognize that Brick Township is nowhere close to Cherry Hill.
So while it’s a nice sentiment to say they are working with employees to relocate to one of the other locations nearby, I wonder how many of the restaurant staff are really interested in the one hour and 15 minute drive from the Cherry Hill area to Brick Township.
Looking at the official Houlihan’s website the Cherry Hill location has already been removed.
With Cherry Hill now closed there are literally no more Houlihan’s in the core Philadelphia metropolitan area.
As mentioned in the letter Brick is the closest and in Pennsylvania they have locations in Cranberry, Hershey and Mount Lebanon. All a significant drive away.
According to the Houlihan’s location page they have 34 locations still open in 15 different states.
An article at NJ.com last October covered the announcement of two other New Jersey locations abruptly closing in Bridgewater and Parsippany
In 2019 they closed two New Jersey locations and Hasbrouck heights and Woodbridge, and then soon after Lawrenceville closed.
In the October article the Chief Operating Officer Bill Leibengood was quoted as saying “we value our employees, their dedication to the company and are working to relocate them immediately to one of our many nearby locations”
Which is similar to the wording found on the Cherry Hill door.
Landry’s Hospitality
Around 2019 Houlihan’s was going through bankruptcy and they accepted a buyout from Landry’s Hospitality.
Landry’s is very large hospitality, entertainment and restaurant corporation owning over 80 brands including Del Friscos, Joe’s Crab Shack, Morton’s Steakhouse, Rainforest Cafe, Palm Restaurant, and even properties within Disney World including the Yak and Yeti restaurant and T-Rex.
Landry’s also owns the 5 Golden Nugget casinos including the one in Atlantic City, as well as several entertainment properties including amusement parks and aquariums.
I mention all this because Cherry Hill is obviously a huge retail and restaurant location and while we have no knowledge on what is being planned for the former Houlihan’s location, it really would be awesome if the Landry’s bigger plan was to just roll in one of their other restaurant concepts into the property. Purely a hope and thought on my part.
The same shopping complex has recently added Sugar factory and Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao dumplings.
The nearby Cherry Hill Mall is also further upgrading their food uptions with the upcoming addition of Eddie V’s Prime Seafood
So again for the Houlihan’s location there is no information on what is planned for the spot and it’s very expensive liquor license. Likely, they are simply closing and a new tenant is being searched.
Links and Location
Houlihan’s Cherry Hill – PERMANENTLY CLOSED
2050 Rte 70 W,
Cherry Hill, NJ 08002