It's Official: Big Boy in Shelby Township Closes Its Doors

The closing of the on 21 Mile and Van Dyke roads in Shelby Township marks the end of an era for one of the restaurants oldest continually operating franchise locations.

“When you have something that has been around for 50 or 60 years, things change, neighborhoods change and it’s sad,” said Big Boy International Restaurants CEO Keith Sirois.

Sirois attributed the closing to a lease expiration issue between the franchise owner and the building’s owner. Sirois would not name the franchise owner or the owner of the building.

When Patch passed by the restaurant Wednesday afternoon, crews from Brewster Maintenance were boarding up the former Big Boy Restaurant, turning off the power, water and locking the doors with chains.

Sirois said he doesn’t know what the owner of the property plans to do with the location, but he said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if that building was razed."

At one point, the location had been a high-volume franchise for the Warren-based Big Boy International Restaurants, but that has changed.

“Not anymore, it hasn’t been as popular. That’s where the issue came, you just can’t take rent increases in this day’s economy,” said Sirois.

Rumors of the restaurants closure has had residents—young and old—buzzing with nostalgic memories, from the days of cutting class to meet your friends at Big Boy to the senior citizens’ weekly breakfast meetings. Post your favorite Big Boy Memories here.

If the closure is sad for loyal customers, imagine how it was for more than the two-dozen employees who were told Monday that they would not be returning Tuesday for work.

“All the employees were completely blind-sided by this closing and it's put about 25 really good people suddenly and unexpectedly out of work,” said Kasey Widman, who said she worked at the Shelby Big Boy for four years.

Sirois said there are four Big Boy restaurants within in a five-mile radius of the Shelby Township location: Rochester Road and M-59; Hall and Garfield roads; 18 Mile and Dequindre roads; and 18 Mile and Van Dyke roads.

“I am sure anyone of those restaurants would take applications from people interested in employment,” said Sirois.

There are 136 Big Boy Restaurants operated in mostly Michigan, but also in California, Ohio, North Dakota, Illinois and Florida. Of those 136, 116 restaurants are franchises.

“Every location that closes makes me sad. Last year Louis Elias (one of the founding brothers of Big Boy) passed away, the last of the Elias brothers, and it was really like an end of an era,” said Sirois.