McDonald’s Is Closing Its Iconic Times Square Location

A worker changes light bulbs at a McDonald's front entrance on 42nd street near Times Square in New York City, on Jan 29, 2013. (Emmanuel Dunand /AFP via Getty Images)

McDonald’s has closed its iconic restaurant on 42nd Street in New York City’s Times Square.

The closure had been planned prior to the pandemic, the company said in a statement to CNN Business, noting that it “was a difficult decision.”

But McDonald’s will still have a large presence in the area.

Last year, McDonald’s opened a three-story location on 45th Street and Broadway, calling it the new McDonald’s Flagship Times Square. That location seats about 170 people and showcases the company’s digital ordering kiosks.

The 42nd Street location closure “allows us to focus on serving customers a few blocks away at the new flagship McDonald’s on 45th and Broadway and in the neighboring communities,” McDonald’s said, noting that it regularly reviews its restaurant portfolio. The company, which has about 38,700 restaurants globally, plans to add 1,000 more this year.

The Times Square location first opened in 2002, with a flashy marquee that paid homage to the theater district. Inside, too, the restaurant was supposed to evoke its surroundings.

“The three-story interior of the restaurant is meant to look like the backstage of a Broadway theater, complete with theatrical light fixtures with ‘'‘barn door’ flaps and colored gels,” the New York Times wrote in a 2002 article about the new location.

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