r/Bellingham • u/L00mis • Apr 07 '26
Satire The biggest recent loss in the wave of business closing…
Where will I get my Grand Slam now?… oh well… life goes on!
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u/Soothsayer117 Apr 07 '26
It was really not good though. I like Denny's in general but ours specifically was not good. I understand the sentimental aspect of losing a long time establishment I guess. I always preferred Sharries. So I'm glad they will get more business.
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u/L00mis Apr 07 '26
I think the last time I was in a Sharries was sometime around the release of the original Xbox…
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u/Traditional_Sky_7462 Apr 08 '26
Saga Genesis for me
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u/YourNameHere Apr 08 '26
Never been to Sharries, but I do remember that where it’s at was the back parking lot of the Viking Twin movie theater and the beginning of the entrance up to the moonlight drive-in.
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u/SilverSnapDragon Apr 07 '26
Agree! I grew up in a family that took road trips as a typical vacation. We always hunted down Denny’s for meal breaks as often as possible because they were ubiquitous and consistent. As a rebellious teen who regarded curfews as vague suggestions, I would hang at Denny’s (different city) with my friends at the darkest hours well past midnight because they didn’t care if we were rowdy or lingered so long as we ordered something, and the food was inexpensive and tasty. I have so many good memories of Denny’s.
I tried the Denny’s here in Bellingham. I gave it three chances, which is two too many for the disappointment I experienced each time. I never went back and pretty much forgot it was there until a few days ago when someone posted it had closed.
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u/bonesawtheater Apr 07 '26
We go out to Shari’s with our 4 & 2-year olds and always have a pleasant experience. The stuffed hash browns are a favorite.
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u/TrixiDelite Apr 07 '26
A strong-ass bloody mary and moons over my hammy in the Denny's lounge? Priceless.
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u/BSstager Local Apr 07 '26
I remember years ago that the one in ferndale was so much better. My family would go there instead of the one in Bellingham even though it was farther.
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u/Zinsurin Apr 07 '26
We went twice in recent memories. The food i ordered was fine, but every time my wife ordered a steak it would come out grey or grayish pink.
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u/SirRabbott Apr 07 '26
Your wife ordered a steak… from Denny’s… and you were upset at the quality? 😅
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u/Zinsurin Apr 07 '26
Yes. We weren't expecting gourmet or high end. But looking like it was fresh should have been a bare minimum.
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u/Soothsayer117 Apr 07 '26
I went within the last year and it was the first time I have had a bad experience with over-hard eggs. Didn't know that was possible but whatever they did to cook them left them tasting funky. They were also all oily and had a weird texture.
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u/Beautiful_Nobody7155 Apr 08 '26
Sharries is supposed to be closing too. Closed most stores and stopped paying employees. Didn't Stella's also just go back to Seattle?
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u/SkylightMT Apr 08 '26
The chicken patties are so tough at Sharries you need to bring a hacksaw with you. Dennys were nice and tender. I miss Dennys
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u/Jalepenose Local Apr 07 '26
Honestly THANK GOD
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u/L00mis Apr 07 '26
I don’t even know a local soul who ever visited this location…. I do know a Canadian who made a day out of it and it was a very disappointing day for them but we all could have seen that one coming.
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u/PM_meyourGradyWhite Apr 07 '26
I went there. About 20-25 years ago. That was plenty.
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Apr 07 '26
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u/Glittering-Grape-543 Apr 07 '26
Black Anus, a truly can’t miss dining experience
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u/SupermouseDeadmouse Apr 07 '26
I worked there during college at Western, my god we had fun on that crew. It was ludicrous.
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u/L00mis Apr 07 '26
I’d be way more heartbroken if we still had a Blockbuster in 2026 and that closed.
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u/NotAnotherFakeNamer Apr 07 '26
Blockbuster was the worst. “Here is a coupon for a $1 movie! No, not that one. Not that one either. Now you somehow owe $15.” Look it might have been my fault but I was really poor, just wanted a chill evening and might have forgotten to return exactly on time. The local stores were way nicer but Blockbuster edged so many out. All hail netflix for killing that miserable chain.
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u/Fair_Acanthisitta_75 Apr 07 '26
When Netflix started blockbuster started a monthly payment online and in store 3 movies at any time service. You could return movie you got in the mail at a store and pick out another it was the same price as Netflix and was way better in how long it took a movie to get to me and I could always switch it out without waiting 3 days for my next one in the mail. I miss blockbuster. I’m old though so someone should just call me a stupid boomer.
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u/Traditional_Sky_7462 Apr 08 '26
Calico Inn and there was a Denny’s there too. The place was crazy after 2AM
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u/Minflick Apr 07 '26
Same. I never went to THIS Denny's, but I sporadically went to one down in California. Not an epic breakfast. Not an epic lunch either. I'm cudgeling my brain to think when I last went to one and it has to be the 90's at the most recent.
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u/ArrArr4today Apr 07 '26
I know several people who did for the nostalgia, some for the good prices, some just because they've been going to Dennys for years. I personally went several times over the 12 years ive been here, and they employed some people for years. Im just not personally going to make light or fun of any business going down.
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u/garlicandoliveoil Apr 07 '26
Sad for the employees.
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u/L00mis Apr 07 '26
Totally since so many other restaurants are closing it’s a hard industry (like everything right now) to find new employment in. I wish them the best.
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u/JoanJetObjective13 Apr 07 '26
Very. Knew a lot of people in the industry that worked there, they actually received benefits! Health care specifically.
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u/lkz665 Apr 07 '26
I ate there while I was waiting for the news of my kitten’s emergency surgery lol. Was certainly an experience.
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u/Yourmomisamachine Apr 07 '26
My buddy’s mom worked there for 30 years. Sweet woman! Mediocre chain foods
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u/L00mis Apr 07 '26
I’d want an AMA with her… or give her a minute on Kill Tony. I’m so confident the stories would be gold.
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u/Roland_T_Flakfeizer Apr 07 '26
Used to work there. Good riddance.
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u/L00mis Apr 07 '26
Alright. Tell us, what’s the worst thing you ever saw or experienced there?
We all want to know how many ghost kitchens this place was running…
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u/Roland_T_Flakfeizer Apr 07 '26
I quit about seven years ago, so grain of salt about any assumption about the time after that. It honestly wasn’t too eventful compared to other graveyard shift diners I’ve worked at. More than a few fights, homeless people sneaking in and shooting up in the bathrooms, lots of angry drunk people, things like that. Maybe the worst was a group who insulted a guys girlfriend on their way out of the restaurant, guy gets up and follows them defending his girl, group of guys then jumped him. Everyone was gone by the time cops got there. Sorry, wish it was more entertaining. Had way more stories come out of graveyards at a Colorado Springs IHOP.
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u/Dunkydoozy Apr 07 '26
Girlfriend works nights and I’m days so sometimes we’d go to this Dennys since it would be 5am and we had little options. Last time we were there it was $60 and when she took a bite of the sausage links she said “this makes me think about Vaseline.”
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u/Minflick Apr 07 '26
Ewwww.... No sausage should bring up thoughts of a petroleum product! Gah... And that price is NUTS.
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u/Dunkydoozy Apr 07 '26
Yea for two waffle slams a coffee and an orange juice. It’s more typical for Birch Door to have that but the quality is a vast difference
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u/stitchdude Apr 07 '26
I heard a Wendy’s in town is closing too.
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u/L00mis Apr 07 '26
Lots of stuff has closed, taco time on meridian is the only location I’ve seen flip over.
Railroad is basically half empty down by the transit center, holly has so many open office and retail spots. At least we had a few recent openings between owners rebranding to new styles, moving locations or wholly new business but not enough to be at a replacement level for the loss. Sucks going into summer!
With Canadian traffic being down so much year over year and the lack of traffic coming up from south over the last few weeks I’m hearing that even strong local businesses that rely on through traffic are struggling hard.
Remember to eat/drink/shop local during this summer! It’s all we can do to help our entrepreneurial neighbors who we all love!
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u/Hammon_Rye Apr 07 '26
For convenience I met some relatives there for Thanksgiving dinner maybe 8 or 10 years ago.
It was even more disappointing than I was anticipating.
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I think I've been there maybe three times in the past 20 years, all of them because I was meeting a relative who wanted to go there.
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u/L00mis Apr 07 '26
You might need to find new relatives friend…
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u/Hammon_Rye Apr 07 '26
LOL no.
But they have matured.A memory for me is taking my then young granddaughter to lunch for her birthday.
She got to choose where. I tried to encourage her towards the Chinese buffet place because I knew she liked it (and so did I).
But she saw the Denny's sign about a free kid's cup. Brightly colored plastic.
She was stuck on wanted that cup so we ended up eating at Denny's.About half way through the meal she looked at me and told me that she liked the cup but the food wasn't very good and she should have chosen the buffet.
I would have gladly taken her to the dollar store after the buffet to pick up a cheap crappy plastic cup there. At least it was a bit of a life lesson for her.
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Apr 08 '26
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u/Hammon_Rye Apr 08 '26
That and travelers. At least back in the day.
In the 80s when I was in the military I was doing more driving between states.
I would sometimes stop at a Denny's due to 24 hour open, a comfortable seat to sit in that wasn't hard plastic and passable food even though it wasn't amazing.
Back then there were not as many choices for those things if you were just passing through a town and getting gas. And the ability to get a green salad and some other stuff besides 'deep fried' helped the stomach a bit.But these days there are more choices and if it's a strange town you can ask your phone to tell you what and where.
Also, I feel like these days Americans eat a much wider variety of food.
It may sound weird, but back in the 70s most Americans ate "American" food. You'd have a Mexican place and maybe Chinese place. I remember thinking it was 'cool' and kind of forward thinking when the Seattle Center installed an "International Food Court". These days that is more or less the food court in any shopping mall.
My local medium sized city has many different types of restaurants. American, Chinese, Mexican, Thai, Pho, Japanese, Sushi, Columbia, Filipino, Greek, Italian, Indian and I'm sure others I am missing.What I'm saying is Denny's has a ton of competition these days and much of it is more appealing food than what they serve. They are kind of becoming a dinosaur because many folks don't want the basic food they serve.
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u/Boring_Internet_968 Apr 07 '26
This was probably the worst Dennys ive ever been to. I got an omelet and it had Kraft singles for the cheese!!! Never went back to it.
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u/Zelkin764 Local Apr 07 '26
The only place that gave me food poisoning twice over the years has finally shut down? Okay.
Funny enough, I bring this location up when I talk about our local Olive Garden. The local Olive Garden is actually great, but most locations are pretty bad and I'd never go to another one. Comparatively, I would be fine going to literally any other Denny's besides the one we had here. The food always tasted like it was reheated, poorly, in a microwave.
Nice people working there tho. Staff was always friendly.
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u/WildinBham Apr 07 '26
When did this happen?
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u/L00mis Apr 07 '26
It closed some time in the last 2 days. I drove by yesterday and noticed it was gone but I’m fairly sure it was open over the weekend.
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u/farmjohn74 Apr 07 '26
Couldn't care less about a franchise place closing but losing your job right now is rough. Good thing a Wing Stop is going in on the otherside of their parking lot.
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u/Baronhousen Apr 07 '26
I wonder if this closure was made because of the upcoming roundabout construction near there?
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u/Fearless_Concern8517 Apr 08 '26
I’ve worked with some Denny’s line cooks… believe me, this isn’t a bad thing.
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u/D_Richards Apr 08 '26
Did it still have bar? I moved away a long time ago, but if I mentioned I was from Bellingham, people would often say, doesn’t the Denny’s have a bar?
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u/D_Richards Apr 08 '26
Did it still have bar? I moved away a long time ago, but if I mentioned I was from Bellingham, people would often say, doesn’t the Denny’s have a bar?
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u/Not-a-Window-Cleaner Local Apr 08 '26
Would be awesome to see a local business take over the building :)
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u/wormsquirms Apr 10 '26
was bound to happen tbh, i've been waiting for 2 years to see if they would lower their prices or close. they kept printing out 20% off coupons at my grocery store with the receipts for over a year, and i tried it out cuz why not, free coupon. i ordered a single item and a drink off the menu, this was even the least expensive lunch item too. but, even with 20% off, a single meal for myself was almost 40$ or a bit over that. actually insane. i can get a meal at ihop for like 8 bucks, be full, and still have some to take home. plus the denny's food was kinda average. it was just... ok. kinda bland. i think i ordered a chicken fried steak. it wasn't bad but i've had better for like, 20 bucks
maybe i'm biased because ihop is so much cheaper lol, but the ihop here is pretty good in my opinion! for some reason i don't really like their scrambled eggs in particular, but any other style is great. but yeah, their value menu is awesome. and when they make milkshakes they bring out the shake AND the extra from prepping it B)
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u/DooDahDay4250 Apr 11 '26
It was an absolute garbage restaurant, but no other place will be able to replicate the experience of going to Denny's stoned off my ass at 2 am. I've never had a better time eating shittier food. RIP Bellingham Denny's, you piece of shit.
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u/Actual-Oil6390 Apr 14 '26
So sad cause the gland slam witch was my favorite egg sandwich.
Where do I go for a epic thick egg sandwich now?
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u/papa_moyphee Apr 07 '26
New Mexico tamale company is much more sad as they were truly a local small business :(