Wednesday night marked the final night that Big Macs were served at Georgia's oldest McDonald's. Originally opened in November 1961, the McDonald's restaurant at 5220 Buford Highway in Doraville closed last night at 7PM, after 56 plus years in business.
When the restaurant first opened, it was one of the original "Golden Arches" style walk-up locations with no interior ordering/seating area. The Doraville location has reportedly gone through two complete rebuilds, one in the early 1970s and another in 2005, as well as several remodels in-between. The restaurant sits across the street from Pinetree Plaza, between I-285 and Shallowford Road.
Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the first McDonald's on May 15, 1940 in San Bernardino, California. McDonald's Corporation was started April 15, 1955 by Ray Kroc in Des Plaines, Illinois. Although the McDonald brothers created the business and the system that made McDonald's successful, it was Kroc who grew the business to the behemoth it became, largely by selling hundreds and thousands of franchises and also by owning the land on which the restaurants were built. The drama that is the story of McDonald's was brought to the silver screen in the 2016 film "The Founder", which was filmed locally in Georgia.
That said, McDonald's Corporation owns the land and building at 5220 Buford Highway.
An employee reached at the Doraville restaurant earlier this week cited "lack of business" as the reason for the closure. The employee also indicated that building was going to be demolished. A representative of Morningstar Enterprise, LLC, the franchise group that owned the restaurant, called the closure "a business decision." One reason for reduced business could be that a new McDonald's, also owned by Morningstar, opened in 2013, just over a mile north of the shuttered location.
In addition to the two Doraville locations, Morningstar operates McDonald's restaurants in Dunwoody near Perimeter Mall, in Brookhaven in an outparcel of Brookhaven Plaza and in Decatur and Atlanta, among others.
ToNeTo Atlanta reached out to Lulo Mattei, owner of Morningstar, in hopes of getting further clarification as to the reasoning for the closure and also to learn of any immediate plans for the property. Mattei never answered the questions, instead indicating hours later that "Sumita Patel" would be the best person to answer our questions. Despite not being provided any contact information, we eventually contacted Sumita (Dalmia) Patel, who according to her LinkedIn profile is "Attorney | Regional Property Manager McDonald's Corporation." Despite describing herself as a "social media guru," Dalmia indicated she did not know when or if she would be able to answer our questions in preparation for this story.
It's worth noting that we also reached out to McDonald's corporate via email and twitter, both to no avail.
While I'd love to be able to say we got an image of the original McDonald's building from 1961 (something we requested and were hoping to share) or were told a reason for the closure, or were informed whether talk of a planned demolition was accurate, we were not. Unfortunately, McDonald's representatives disappointed, much like their burgers.
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| The original Doraville McDonald's looked similar to this |
According to a City of Doraville planning and development representative, McDonald's has not filed for any permits, demolition or otherwise, for the 5220 address.
What is your fondest memory of this McDonald's from the 1960s? Do you think McDonald's has lost its way? What would you like to see open in its place?
Please share your thoughts below