Abandoned McDonald's in Westerly, Rhode Island

Welcome to another edition of Retail on The Thames! It's quite unusual to find abandoned McDonald's, but there are some sitting out there. Here's a case of a closing McDonald's that has sat vacant for a few years.

INFO: This particular McDonald's was built in 1989 in Dunns Corner, one of Westerly's more suburban neighborhoods. It was the second McDonald's in Westerly, the first one being a location near Downtown Westerly, which relocated across the street in 1996 as a very small Mansard-style building. This location suddenly closed in the mid-2010's, and has sat abandoned since


PICTURES:

Entering the location, you can tell that not much was done to it. It never received the beige painting that many McMansard's got in the early to mid-2010's. Walking to this place felt surreal. McDonald's is one of those chains you can't imagine closing locations, but it does occasionally happen. It's hard to picture one until you actually see one. It feels so ghostly. You can tell it was a McDonald's, but the red roof and the fixtures McDonald's uses gives the buildings their character. Without the McDonald's branding, they feel lifeless

This is currently the only abandoned McDonald's in the area. There was an abandoned one in North Stonington for a period of time, which closed in 2012 and was shortly demolished afterwards for a propane store that would open up a few years later.

The drive-thru sign here is one of the more unique ones I've seen.

The menu board was nothing but cables and fluorescent lighting, which looks really interesting to me.

The drive-thru side is the same as the entrance. It has grass growing in the parking lot, and the same lifeless feeling.

One of my favorite things about abandoned places is finding unique signs, such as this closing sign. It refers to two open locations that customers can go to. These are aforementioned small McMansard near downtown Westerly, and North Stonington's current location, which is an interesting looking Forever Young built in the early 2010's. I believe that it was built as a replacement to the McMansard that closed in 2012.

This is hard to see, but I also found my favorite McDonald's logo in the drive-thru. I'm unsure what it's called, but I call it the "To Go" logo. It's the golden arches riding a skateboard.

Pretty cool, right?

The building is up for lease, but as a medical space of all things. However, no one has taken the space yet.

The interior here is untouched. It feels like a time warp to when fast food interiors had light tones and swirly chairs. I never went to this location, but the interior made me feel nostalgic in the weirdest type of way. It's truly fascinating

That's it for this one! I'll see you all soon!

-Simpsonfan311