North Carolina store closures — October 2026

50 food and drink plants in 25 states have closed or set a 2026 closing date. Of the 34 whose source gives a reason, 14 are moving the work to other plants, the most common reason.

Crumbl, the pink-box cookie chain, is shrinking. Restaurant Business reported on October 19 that Crumbl has closed 65 locations since April 30 and opened 15, for 50 net closures.

Between Sept. 26 and Oct. 24, our weekly checks found 275 stores that 44 chains removed from their own online store locators, across 42 states.

The brands are not filing; their operators are. Twenty-six franchisee bankruptcy filings by 21 operators this year across Popeyes, Applebee's, Subway, Hardee's, Carl's Jr., Wendy's, Denny's, Village Inn and more, every one anchored to a court docket.

43 independent and franchise-run grocery stores in our records have a 2026 closing date. Of the 25 that said why, 8 pointed to rising costs (utilities, meat, rent, wages), 8 to an owner retiring or leaving, and 7 to competition from larger chains.

We count 66 plants whose owners have set a closing date after October 19, across 26 states: 12 in October, 10 in November, 26 in December, 18 in 2027.

7-Eleven's parent announced in April that 645 North American stores would close in fiscal 2026, which runs from March 1, 2026 to February 28, 2027.

At least 117 brewery and taproom locations in 33 states closed, announced a closing or filed for bankruptcy in 2026. Many are a single taproom of a brewer that is still in business.

At least 12 hemp and THC retailers closed or announced closings in 2026 and pointed to new state or federal rules on THC products. Together they covered 21 storefronts in 8 states.

We can now name 190 of the U.S. cafes, across 31 states and Washington, D.C., up from 147 when this page was first published. Many closed the weekend of September 26.

Three T.J. Maxx stores have closed or been reported closing in 2026. That is not a closure program.

We count 82 trucking companies that filed in 2026, from one-truck operators to regional fleets with more than a hundred trucks.

Sixteen grocery locations have a stated closing date, from this week into June 2027, across 11 states. Twelve are head-office decisions, four are independents.

RNDC has filed 30 WARN notices in 19 states and D.C. this year, 22 at a named site and 8 statewide, 6,329 positions on the notices we hold, counted once per notice; not additive, conditional ahead of asset sales.

Three Charlotte-area restaurants and one in Columbia, SC closed August 23, a year after the Artistry Restaurants acquisition.