It’s true, Arby’s on 6th Ave closed. Here’s what happened and what’s next

Arby’s at 6330 Sixth Ave. in Tacoma has quietly closed its doors, but a sign on the front door that says “closed for maintenance” brought questions from neighbors.

Is the closure temporary?

The answer is no.

“This store is permanently closed,” said the Arby’s franchisee owner, Sunny Datta.

“It will be replaced with another (Arby’s) location in the future. There are no other locations planned for closure in Pierce County or any other counties. More new Arby’s locations are being planned for opening soon. I have signed up to open 12 new locations in the next four years in Washington state,” said Datta.

Will those Arby’s restaurants be here in the South Sound?

“Pierce County is absolutely on our list of new openings,” said Datta.

Datta added that the employees at the Sixth Avenue Arby’s kept their jobs.

“All the employees were relocated to our other locations,” he said.

So what happens next with the building? What is the maintenance happening there?

Datta, whose company also owns the building, said the company wanted to remodel the space into a refreshed Arby’s, but the space was too constricted.

“We could not remodel this existing location due (to) layout constraints. It had to be scrapped and rebuilt. That’s why we will be moving to a new location,” he said.

What’s slated instead is a Starbuck’s, Datta said.

Permits filed with the city say the building will have a drive-thru.

This story was originally published January 18, 2019 at 10:00 AM.