Longtime area restaurant, Burger King, at 1200 S. Brentwood Boulevard in Richmond Heights, opposite the St. Louis Galleria Mall, has closed, Brentwood resident Barry Williams has reported.
The Burger King international restaurant chain was founded in Miami in 1954 and its Richmond Heights store was among the chain’s oldest surviving locations. When it opened in 1966 it was the company’s 194th store. Burger King now has about 17,800 stores, according to Williams.
The Boulevard retail complex is expanding southward toward the restaurant, which could be a reason for the Burger King’s closing.
See also, reported by Barry Williams: Hunan Wok in Brentwood closes: report
I attended the grand opening of Burger King 194 with my mother and sisters in 1966. It was an exciting event. The restaurant was built on roughly the same site as the old Wayside Market, a family-owned convenience store that offered late-evening hours in an era before the Southland Corporation revolutionized retailing with its national chain of 7-Eleven stores (7 AM – 11 PM).
With the closing of 194, the next-closest Burger King is 3.5 miles to the east, at 3259 Hampton Avenue in St. Louis, near the “Other Tilles Park” and the Bayer’s Garden Center.
Cant get a Whopper round these parts no mo.
I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did because I thought that parcel was slated for redevelopment. Are they planning to relocate or are the employees out of jobs?
Wow that was there since 1966? I remember it was remodeled in the early-mid 1980s. Also remember the Dairy Queen that was a couple of blocks to the north.
I loved Burger King when I was younger, the smell of those charcoal burgers have a real fondness in my memories and I’m afraid in my arteries also. I guess we change as we age, I can hardly eat a burger anymore without an Alka seltzer chaser. But I sure used to love them, a smile for the wonderful memories and a hope all the employees found great jobs.
We moved to STL in Jan 1966 and used to stop at this Burger King occasionally in the early 60s-70s. Then years passed and I actually thought it was already gone, considering all the development in that area. The building appearance was radically changed as some point and fell off our radar, even when driving Brentwood Blvd.