White Castle closing Short North restaurant after more than 50 years in the neighborhood

Taijuan Moorman, The Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
White Castle is closing its restaurant at 965 N. High St. in the Short North, after decades in the neighborhood.
White Castle is closing its restaurant at 965 N. High St. in the Short North, after decades in the neighborhood.

White Castle plans to close its Short North restaurant Saturday, after serving the neighborhood for more than half a century.

Jamie Richardson, vice president of marketing and public relations at the Columbus-based fast-food chain, said the location was heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and never fully recovered.

"It changed the composition of customers [and] the patterns day-to-day of what the business was like," he said. "And really, the biggest thing that changed for a lot of restaurants was being able to hire more people."

Richardson said all of the Short North employees would move to other White Castle locations, which will allow a location at 4525 Kenny Rd. to expand from 16 back to 24 hours. The nearest location to the Short North is now at 801 E 5th Ave. in Milo-Grogan.

White Castle's location on the ground floor of a mixed-use project at 965 N. High St. opened in June 2018, featuring a modern design dubbed "The Castle." The restaurant included lockers for mobile pickup orders and kiosks for easy ordering, modifications that some other chains wouldn't embrace until after mobile ordering revved up during the pandemic.

White Castle has had a place in the Short North since 1968, long before the neighborhood became the nightlife strip of Columbus. The location has been the site for testing newer menu options, including alcoholic beverages and side salads.

The recent development project, completed with the development company Borror, features 12,000 square feet of office space, a 200-spot parking garage and 98 apartments. What will happen to the White Castle restaurant space remains to be seen, but Richardson said what comes next would be something the neighborhood would be excited about and be "good overall for the long haul."

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The chain, founded in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, moved to Columbus in 1934 and has called the city home ever since, moving to a sleek new headquarters building a few years ago. The company owns and operates more than 350 restaurants, including 15 in central Ohio.

tmoorman@dispatch.com

@TaijuanNichole

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: White Castle closing Short North location, cites slow business