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It appears as if the ship has sailed out of Tyler and Long John Silver's is on it. A whole brand has just suddenly disappeared from Tyler.

I say this because of what I've observed at two different Long John Silver's locations in Tyler. The city had three locations - for more than 25 years the stand-alone location on Loop 323 near Broadway Square Mall and then there were two additional combination locations on S. Broadway and Gentry that were partnered with Taco Bell.

I first noticed that something wasn't right when I visited the Taco Bell - Long John Silver's location on S. Broadway Sunday afternoon with my wife. We went through the drive-thru real quick and noticed the following sign on the menu board stating that this location no longer was serving Long John Silver's menu.

Lucky Larry, Mix 93-1
Lucky Larry, Mix 93-1
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Then just last night, around 5:45, as I was driving on Loop 323 I happened to look over at the stand-alone location and it was totally dark. I had noticed for a while now the marquee had said 'Dine In 10:30 to 3', but I'm not sure if the drive-thru was still open or if that was their hours. So, I decided to go by there while at lunch today, and the building was still dark with not a single car in the parking lot.

Lucky Larry, Mix 93-1
Lucky Larry, Mix 93-1
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Lucky Larry, Mix 93-1
Lucky Larry, Mix 93-1
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It appears as if this location on the loop is now closed too. Also last night I drove by the S. Broadway location again and there was caution tape across the entrance and the restaurant was closed. It looks as if the Long John Silver's branding is being removed from this location and will be a Taco Bell going forward. There was a note placed on the drive-thru menu board mentioning that they would be temporarily closed, but it doesn't do much good when you can't go through the drive-thru!

Lucky Larry, Mix 93-1
Lucky Larry, Mix 93-1
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Then I was wondering about the location on Gentry and decided to give them a call to see if they were open and if they still had the Long John Silver's menu as an option at that location. The employee that answered the phone said they were just serving Taco Bell options and had stopped serving the Long John Silver's menu.

I did a little further investigation wondering if this is the case across East Texas, apparently not, because the Longview Long John Silver's is still open. So, unless the stand-alone location is just having staffing issues and plans to open up again, it appears to me as if Long John Silver's has left the Tyler market. It was back in July that the KFC/Long John Silver's location in Lindale closed too.

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