MERRIMACK – A McDonald’s on Route 101A has shut after more than a quarter century of serving up Quarter-Pounders, french friends and Big Macs, part of a paring back of stores around the country by the fast-food giant.

The restaurant, just west of the Nashua city line facing Continental Boulevard, shut June 15.

A statement from the local communication team for the McDonald’s corporation gave no explicit reason, nor does a statement taped to the restaurant doors and signed by Emile Haddad, the owner.

“After serving the community for nearly 27 years the Merrimack McDonald’s will be permanently closing,” the statement says. It urges customers to go to another McDonald’s owned by Haddad in Milford.

Haddad could not be reached for further comment.

Employees at nearby stores said they had heard that sales at the restaurant, notable for its large indoor playground, had not been great recently, but nobody had any specific information about what led to the closing.

No applications have been made to the town planning department for changes to the property.

McDonald’s has closed about 700 restaurants in the past two years as it deals with slumping sales, fueled by a change in consumer habits away from traditional fast food and toward more specialized burger joints like Five Guys or “fast casual” restaurants like Chipotle.

McDonald’s, the world’s largest restaurant chain, still has more than 32,000 restaurants around the world, but it reported an 11 percent drop in revenue and a 30 percent fall in profits over the first three months of the year. Its switched CEOs last year.

About 80 percent of McDonald’s locations are owned by a franchisee; the rest are owned by the corporation.

David Brooks can be reached at 594-6531, by email at dbrooks@nashuatelegraph.com or on Twitter
@GraniteGeek.