Shari’s shutters all Oregon restaurants

Published 1:00 pm Friday, October 25, 2024

Dear Oregonians, you will no longer be able to get a fresh slice of pie, a homemade omelet or a pie shake (those quirky little desserts actually came with pie crusts mixed into the shake) at Shari’s restaurants.

That’s because as of Monday, Oct. 21, all Shari’s restaurants in the state were permanently closed, a move originally reported in Willamette Week, quoting representatives from the Oregon Lottery.

The lottery is in charge of all machines inside the restaurants that were noted for their pies and comfort food.

Reached Monday afternoon, Melanie Mesaros, the external communications program manager for the Oregon State Lottery, confirmed the closures.

“Over the past several weeks, they’ve been closing various locations across the state throughout the state,” she said, “and we’ve been removing our equipment as we’ve learned of each of those closures, and this morning — we’ve confirmed today — they’ve closed all locations in Oregon.”

An attempt to reach a human resources person at the company’s headquarters showed their mailbox was full and a message couldn’t be left. The restaurant chain is headquartered in Beaverton.

Some statewide locations shut down a week ago or longer, Mesaros said. She said the lottery administrators learned either of the closing of the Beaverton Shari’s (6035 S.W. Murray Blvd.) or the Aloha (6029 S.W. 185th Ave) location on Oct. 18.

Founded in 1978, the first Shari’s restaurant was in Hermiston. It goal was to provide “Northwest comfort food, well-prepared at a fair price…” according to the company’s website.

The next location was in Sherwood, with the company eventually opening 95 restaurants in six northwestern states. They employed 4,000, according to their website.

On Monday afternoon, “Temporary closed” signs were visible on the front windows of both the Hillsboro location, 2185 S.W. 185th Ave., and the Murray Boulevard location.

Each sign read: “We apologize for the inconvenience. We invite you to visit our other nearby locations in the meantime. Thank you.”

Inside, nary a fruit nor cream pie was in sight at either the Beaverton or Hillsboro location, although the pie cases that greet customers as they walk in were completely illuminated and all the restaurants’ inside lights were on.

In addition to the Beaverton, Hillsboro, Sherwood and Aloha sites, locally the company had restaurants in Oregon City, Garden Home, King City, Milwaukie, Portland and McMinnville.

At least one sad customer

Contacted sitting inside her car in the parking lot of the Beaverton Shari’s on Monday, 20-year-old Halli Vance said she would accompany her grandmother to the Milwaukie Shari’s restaurant when she was a child.

“I remember their food. I remember there was always all-day breakfast and hot chocolate. And the pie of course,” she said. “But it wasn’t as good the last few times we went.”

An Oregon City resident and local Portland Community College student, Vance said she hadn’t been to a Shari’s in probably five years but was interested in whether they had all shut down.

“I’ve been going to each one to see if they are open,” she said, having already stopped by the Hillsboro Shari’s and noticing it had shut down.

Still, she said, she’ll always remember that the omelets at the restaurant were one of her favorites.